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THE  STUDENTS  ROMAN  EMPIRE 


A    HISTORY 

OF  THE 

ROMAN    EMPIRE 

FROM 

ITS  FOUNDATION  TO  THE  DEATH  OF 
MARCUS  AURELIUS 

(27  B.C.-180  A.D.) 
^ 

BY   J.^B.CVBURY,  M.A. 

FELLOW   AND   TUTOR  OF   TRINITY   COLLEGE,  DUBLIN 
ILLUSTRATED 


NEW  YORK    •  :  •    CINCINNATI    •  !  •    CHICAGO 

AMERICAN    BOOK    COMPANY 


E-P 


1 76 
B97 


LIBRARY 

^3 'fit  9  6 

UNIVERSITY  OF  TORONTO 


PREFACE. 


IT  is  well  known  that  for  the  period  of  Roman  history, 
which  is  of  all  its  periods  perhaps  the  most  important— the 
first  two  centuries  of  the  Empire — there  exists  no  English 
handbook  suitable  for  use  in  Universities  and  Schools.  The 
consequence  of  this  want  in  our  educational  course  is  that 
the  knowledge  of  Roman  history  possessed  by  students, 
who  are  otherwise  men  of  considerable  attainments  in 
classical  literature,  comes  to  a  sudden  end  at  the  Battle  of 
Actium.  At  least,  their  systematic  knowledge  ends  there  ; 
of  the  subsequent  history  they  know  only  isolated  facts 
gathered  at  haphazard  from  Horace,  Juvenal  and  Tacitus. 
This  much-felt  need  will,  it  is  hoped,  be  met  by  the  present 
volume,  which  bridges  the  gap  between  the  Student's  Rome 
and  the  Student's  Gibbon. 

This  work  has  been  written  directly  from  the  original 
sources.  But  it  is  almost  unnecessary  to  say  that  the 
author  is  under  deep  obligations  to  many  modern  guides. 
He  is  indebted  above  all  to  Mommsen's  Romisches  Staats- 
recht,  and  to  the  fifth  volume  of  the  same  historian's 
Romische  Geschichte.  He  must  also  acknowledge  the 
constant  aid  which  he  has  derived  from  Merivale's  History 
of  the  Romans  under  the  Empire,  Schiller's  Geschichte  der 
romischen  Kaiserzeit,  and  Herzog's  Geschichte  und  System 
der  romischen  Staatsverfassung.  Duruy's  History  of  Rome 
has  been  occasionally  useful.  The  lesser  and  more  special 
books  which  have  been  consulted  with  advantage  are  too 
numerous  to  mention.  Gardthausen's  (as  yet  incomplete) 
work  on  Augustus,  Lehmann's  monograph  on  Claudiu* 


IV  PREFACE. 

(with  invaluable  genealogical  tables),  Schiller's  large 
monograph  on  Nero,  De  la  Berge  and  Dierauer  on  Trajan^ 
Diirr  on  the  journeys  of  Hadrian^  Lacour-Gayet  on 
Antoninus  Pius,  Hirschfeld's  Untersuchungen  auf  dem 
Gebiete  der  romischen  Verwaltungsgeschichte  are  the  most 
important.  The  assistance  derived  from  Xenopol's  paper 
on  Trajan's  Dacian  wars  in  the  Revue  historique  (xxxi., 
1886)  must  be  specially  acknowledged.  Of  editions,  the 
Monumentum  Ancyranum  by  Mommsen,  the  Annals  of 
Tacitus  by  Mr.  Furneaux,  the  Correspondence  of  Pliny 
and  Trajan  and  Plutarch's  Lives  of  Galba  and  Otho  by 
Mr.  Hardy,  the  Satires  of  Juvenal  by  Mr  Mayor,  the 
Epigrams  of  Martial  by  Friedlander,  have  been  most 
helpful.  The  author  has  also  had  the  advantage  of  the 
learning  of  Mr.  L.  C.  Purser,  whose  great  kindness  in 
reading  the  proof-sheets  with  minute  care  cannot  be 
sufficiently  acknowledged. 

It  is  hoped  that  the  concluding  chapter  on  Roman  Life 
and  Manners  will  be  found  useful.  It  is  compiled  from 
the  materials  furnished  in  Friedlander's  Sittengeschichte, 
various  articles  in  the  new  edition  of  Sir  W.  Smith's  Dic- 
tionary of  Greek  and  Roman  Antiquities,  and  Mayor's 
Juvenal.  It  has  been  thought  advisable  to  make  copious 
quotations  from,  and  references  to,  Horace,  Juvenal,  and 
Martial  a  special  feature  of  this  chapter,  in  order  to  bring 
the  study  of  those  authors  more  immediately  in  touch  with 
the  period  to  which  they  belong. 

The  constitutional  theory  and  history  of  the  Principate 
have  been  investigated  with  such  striking  results  in  recent 
years  by  the  elaborate  researches  of  Mommsen  and  his 
school  in  Germany,  that  the  author  felt  himself  called 
upon  to  treat  this  side  of  imperial  history  as  fully  as  the 
compass  of  a  handbook  seemed  to  admit.  It  is  a  subject 
which  cannot  be  otherwise  than  difficult ;  but  in  order  to 
read  the  history  of  the  Empire  intelligently,  it  is  indispen- 
sable to  master  at  the  outset  the  constitutional  principles, 
to  which  Chapters  II.  and  III.  are  devoted. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


31-27  B.C. 

27  B.C.-14  A.D. 
27  B.C.-180  A.D. 

27  B.C.-14  A.D. 
27  B.C.-14  A.D. 

27  B.C.-14  A.D. 

27  B.C. -14  A.D. 

27  B.C.-4  A.D. 

25-22  B.C. 

12  B.C.-14  A.D. 
27  B.C.-14  A.D. 
41  B.C.-14  A.D. 

14-37  A.D. 
14-37  A.D. 

37-41  A.D. 
41-54  A.D. 


CHAP. 
I. 


III. 

IV. 

\^ 

u/ 

VII. 
VIII. 

IX. 
X 

XI. 
XII. 
XIII. 

XIV. 
XV 


PA«K 

FROM  THE  BATTLE  OP  ACTIUM  TO  THE 
FOUNDATION  OF  THE  PRINCIPATE  .  1 

THE  PRINCIPATE 12 

THE  JOINT  GOVERNMENT  OF  THE  PRINCEPS 
AND  SENATE  .  .  .  .  .27 

THE  FAMILY  OF  AUGUSTUS  AND  HIS 
PLANS  TO  FOUND  A  DYNASTY  .  .  45 

)ADMINISTRATION  OF  AUGUSTUS  IN  ROMK 
AND  ITALY.  ORGANISATION  OF  THE 
ARMY 59 

PROVINCIAL      ADMINISTRATION      UNDER    ^ 
AUGUSTUS.    THE  WESTERN  PROVINCES       74 

PROVINCIAL  ADMINISTRATION  (continued}.    * 
THE  EASTERN  PROVINCES  AND  EGYPT    102 

ROME  AND  PARTHIA 

EXPEDITIONS  TO  ARABIA  AND        .         .117 
ETHIOPIA 

THE  WINNING  AND  LOSING  OF  GERMANY. 
DEATH  OF  AUGUSTUS  .  .  .124 

ROME  UNDER  AUGUSTUS.  His  BUILD- 
INGS ...  .  141 

LITERATURE  OF  THE  AUGUSTAN  AGE    .      149 

THE  PRINCIPATE  OF  TIBERIUS       .         .164 

THE  PRINCIPATE  OF  TIBERIUS  (con- 
tinued)   188 

THR  PRINCIPATE  OF  GAIUS  (CALIGULA).     214 

THE  PKINCIPATE  OF  CLAUDIUS  230 


TABLE    OF    CONTENTS. 


CHAP.  FACE 

43-61  A.D.  XVI.  THE  CONQUEST  or  BRITAIN  .        ,     258 

54-68  A.D.         XVII.  THE  PRINCIPATE  OF  NERO     .         .     273 
41-66  A.D.       XVIII.  THE    WARS    FOR  ARMENIA,  UNDER 

CLAUDIUS  AND  NERO  .         .         .     30£ 
68-69  A.D,          XIX.  THE  PRINCIPATE    OP    GALBA,    AND 

THE  YEAR  OP  THE  FOUR  EMPEUORS    324 
4JJ9-70  A.D.  XX.  REBELLIONS  IN  GERMANY  AND  JUDEA    351 

XXI.  THE  FLAVIAN  EMPERORS, 
69-79  A.D.  VESPASIAN, 

79-81  A.D.  Trrus, 

81-96  A.D.  AND  DOMITIAN 

69-96  A.D.         XXII.  BRITAIN  AND  GERMANY  UNDER  THE  j 

FLAVIANS  »    397 

^     85-89  A.D.  DACIAN  WAR  ) 

96-98  A.D.       XXIII.  NERVA  \ 

98-117  A.D.  AND  TRAJAN  I     .         .412 

101-106  A.D.  THE  CONQUEST  OF  DACIA) 

98-117A.D.        XXIV.  TRAJAN'S    PRINCD?ATE    (continued. 
ADMINISTRATION    AND    EASTERN 
CONQUESTS         ....     433 
37-117  A.D.         XXV.  LITERATURE  PROM    THE  DEATH  OF 

TIBERIUS  TO  TRAJAN.         .         .     457 

117-138  A.D.       XXVI.  THE  PRINCIPATE  OF  HADRIAN        .     489 
138-161  A.D.     XXVII.  THE    PRINCIPATE     OF    ANTONINUS 

Pius 522 

161-180A.D.    XXVIII.  THE       PRDTCIPATE      OF      MARCUS 

AURELIUS  .....     533 
138-180  A.D.       XXIX.  LITERATURE   UNDER  HADHIAN  AND 

THE  ANTONINES.  .  551 

27  B.C.-180  A.D.         XXX.  THE   ROMAN    WORLD    UNDER    THE 
EMPIRE.     POLITICS,  PHILOSOPHY, 
RELIGION  AND  ART    .         .         .     562 
27  B.C.-180  A.D.        XXXI.  ROMAN  LIFE  AND  MANNERS  .         .     591 


INDEX 


627 


LIST  OF  MAPS  AND  PLANS. 

Map  of  the  Western  Provinces  of  tlie  Roman  Empire  to  face  page    83 
„    Eastern        „  „        „  „  „      „      103 

Plan  of  Rome     .  .  .  page  144 

Plan  of  the  Battle  of  Locus  Castoium   .          .          .      to  face  page  335 
Map  to  illustrate  the  Dacian  campaigns  of  Trajan  „      „      422 

Map  of  the  Roman  Wall,  with  the  principal  stations      .        page  502 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

FAOK 

Augustus  (from  the  bust  in  the  British  Museum)      ...         1 
Temple  of  Mars  Ultor  (as  it  appears  at  the  present  day)    .         .       11 
Augustus  crowned  (from  the  Vienna  cameo)     ....       12 

Agrippa        .  ...  .  .20 

H>a<i  of  Livia  (found  at  Pompeii,  now  in  the  Museum  at  Naples)  27 
Coin  of  Augustus  .  44 

Livia,  wearing  the  Palla  .......  45 

Julia 45 

Coin  :  Marcellus    .........       55 

Arch  of  Augustus  at  Rimini  .......  59 

Coin  of  Gaius  and  Lucius  Caesar 73 

Arch  of  Augustus  at  Aosta  .  .  .  .  .74 

Gin  :  Altar  of  Rome  and  Augustus  at  Lugudunum  .  .  .101 
Triumph  of  Tiberius  (from  the  Sainte  Chapelle  cameo)  .  .  102 
Trophies  of  Augustus  .  ...  116 

Coi-  s  commemorating  recovery  of  standards  from  the  Parthians.  117 
C'  -in  of  Augustus  and  Artavafdes  ......  123 

So-called  Arch  of  Drusus 124 

CoinofDrnsus  ....  .  140 

Ancient  Rome  (Restoration)  .  .  .  .  .  .  141 

Head  of  Msecenas 148 

Tomb  of  Vinril .149 

Digentia,  Horace's  "Sabine  farm  .  .  .  ,  ,  .163 
Head  of  Tiherius  ...  ...  164 

View  of  Brnndnsium 187 

Parthian  Warriors,  from  Trajan's  Column  .  .  .  188 

Agripp;na,  t-o-called  wife  of  Germanicus  (from  statue  in  the 

Capitol) 213 

Cameo:  G;iius  and  Dru&illa  (from  the  cameo  in  the  Bibliotheque 

National e,  Paris) 214 

Antonia  (from  the  Louvre) 229 


Vlll  LIST   OF    ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Claudius  (from  the  statue  in  the  Vatican)  .         •         • 

Bust  of  Agrippina,  daughter  of  Gcrmanicus  (from  the  bust  in 

the  Capitol) 

Messalina  (from  the  bust  in  the  Capitol) 
Apotheosis  of  Germanicus 
Nero  (from  the  bust  in   the   British   Museum,  brought   from 

Athens) 

Coin  of  Poppaea     ........ 

Aqueduct  of  Nemausus 

Coin  struck  by  Nero  to  commemorate  successes  of  Corbulo 
Coin  of  Arsaces      ........ 

Coin:  Galba 

Otho  (from  the  bust  in  the  British  Museum)     . 

Vitellius  (from  a  bust  in  Vienna)     ..... 

Arch  of  Titus 

Coin  :  Judsea  Capta        .... 

Colosseum • 

Titus  (from  the  British  Museum)    .  .         .    ;     . 

Domitian  (from  the  statue  at  Munich)     . 
Vespasian  (from  the  Museum  at  Naples)          ,         . 
Roman  Arch  at  Lincoln          .... 

Nerya  (from  the  Vatican)       .     ,     . 

Trajan's  Column    .         .         .         .         .         .     .     . ;:  •     .  ' 

Figures  from  Trajan's  Column 

Trajan  (from  the  bust  in  the  British  Museum). 

Relief  from  Trajan's  Column  ..... 

Trajan  gives  a  king  to  the  Purthians 

Adventus  Coin  of  Hadrian      ...... 

Nero  Citharoedus  (from  the  statue  in  the  Capitol)     . 
Seneca  (so  called)  (from  a  bust  in  the  museum  at  Naples) 
Hadrian  (from  a  bust  in  the  British  Museum)  . 
Sabina.          ......... 

Antoninus  Pius  (from  a  bust  in  the  British  Museum) 
Consecratio  of  Antoninus  and  Faustina    .... 

Marcus  Aurelius  (from  the  Louvre)  ... 

Lucius  Verus  (from  a  bust  in  the  British  Museum)  . 
Mausoleum  of  Hadrian  (as  it  appears  at  the  present  day). 
Head  of  Antinous  ('rom  the  bust  in  the  British  Museum). 
Temple  of  Venus  and  Rome  (as  it  appears  at  the  present  day) 
Bas-relief  of  triumph  of  Marcus  Aurelius  (from  the  Capitol) 
Balnese  at  Pompeii :  Tepidarium     . 
School-flogging      .          .          .          .         . 

Baths  of  Caracalla         .         .         .         .<; 

Section  of  Flav: an  Amphitheatre     .        .. 

Method  of  raising  wild  beasts  in  the  arena 

Faustina  as  Mater  Castrorum. 

Coin  of  Antoninus  Pius,  representing  the  Funeral  Pyre  at  his 

Consecratio    ......... 


THE   ROMAN   EMPIEE 


Augustus. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE  BATTLE  OF   ACTIUM  TO   THE    FOUNDATION  OP  THE 
PEINCIPATE. 

§  1.  Caesar.  §  2.  Agrippa  and  Maecenas.  §  3.  Caesar's  treatment  of 
Egypt.  The  Egyptian  booty.  Settlement  of  the  veterans  in  Italy. 
Reorganisation  of  legions.  §  4.  Caesar  in  the  East.  His  return  to 
Italy.  Conspiracy  of  Lepidus.  Decrees  in  honour  of  Caesar.  His 
triumphs  over  (1)  Dalmatia  and  Pannonia,  (2)  Asia,  (3)  Egypt. 
Closing  of  the  Temple  of  Janus.  §  5.  Caesar's  position  as  triumvir. 
He  resigns  the  triumvirate  (27  B.C.). 

§  1.  C.  JULIUS  C-ESAB,  the  triumvir  and  the  founder  of  the  Roman 
Empire,  was  the  grandnephew  *  of  C.  Julius  Cwsar,  the  dictator,  his 

*  His  mother  Atia  was  the  daughter  of  Julia,  the  dictator's  sister. 
1 


2  FROM  THE  BATTLE  OF  ACTIUM.         CHAP.  i. 

adoptive  father.  Originally  named,  like  his  true  father,  C.  Octavius,* 
he  entered  the  Julian  family  after  the  dictator's  death,  and,  according 
to  the  usual  practice  of  adopted  sons,  called  himself  C.  Julius  Csesar 
Octavianus.  But  the  name  Octavianus  soon  fill  into  disuse,  and  by 
his  contemporaries  he  was  commonly  spoken  of  as  Caesar,  just  as 
Scipio  ^Emilianns  was  commonly  called  S»;ipio. 

The  victory  of  Actium  (Sept.  2,  31  B.C.),  and  the  death  of 
Marcus  Antonius  (Aug.  1,  30  B.C.)  placed  the  supreme  power  in 
the  hands  of  C«esar,  for  so  we  may  best  call  him  until  he  becomes 
Augustus.  The  Eoman  world  lay  at  his  feet  and  he  had  no  rival. 
He  was  not  a  man  of  g<  nius  and  his  success  had  perhaps  been  chiefly 
due  to  his  imperturbable  sell-control.  He  was  no  general ;  he  was 
hardly  a  soldier,  though  not  devoid  of  person^  courage,  as  he  had 
shown  in  his  campaign  in  Illyricum.  As  a  statesman  he  was  able, 
but  not  creative  or  original,  and  he  would  never  have  succeeded  in 
forming  a  permanent  constitution  but  for  the  example  of  the  great 
dictator.  In  temj)er  he  was  cool,  without  ardour  or  enthusiasm. 
His  mind  was  logical  and  he  aimed  at  precision  in  thought  and 
expression.  His  culture  was  wide,  if  superficial ;  his  knowledge  of 
Greek  imperfect.  In  literary  style  he  affected  simplicity  and 
correctness ;  and  he  was  an  acute  critic.  Like  many  educated  men 
of  his  time,  he  was  not  free  from  superstition.  His  habits  were 
always  simple,  his  food  plain,  and  his  surroundings  modest.  His 
family  affections  were  strong  and  sometimes  misled  him  into  weak- 
ness. His  presence  was  imposing,  though  he  was  not  tall,  and  his 
features  were  marked  by  symmetrical  beauty  ;  but  the  pallor  of  his 
complexion  showed  that  his  health  was  naturally  delicate.  It  was 
due  to  his  self-control  and  his  simple  manner  of  life  that  he  lived  to 
be  an  old  man. 

§  2.  The  successes  of  Caasar  had  not  been  achieved  without  the 
aid  of  others.  Two  remarkable  men,  devoted  to  his  interests,  stood 
by  him  faithfully  throughout  the  civil  wars,  and  helped  him  by 
their  counsels  and  their  lahours.  These  were  M.  Vipsanius 
Agrppa  and  C.  Cilnius  Ma3cenas.  As  they  helped  him  not  only  to 
win  the  empire,  hut  also  to  wield  it  after  he  had  won  it,  it  is 
necessary  to  know  what  manner  of  men  they  were. 

Of  Agrippa  we  know  strangely  little  considering  the  prominent 
position  he  occupied  for  a  long  and  important  period,  and  the  part 
he  played  in  the  history  of  the  world.  From  youth  up  he  had 
been  the  companion  of  Caesar,  and  he  was  always  content  to  take 
the  second  place.  His  military  ability  stood  Caasar  in  good  stead, 
notably  in  the  war  with  Sextus  Pompeius,  and  on  the  day  of 
Actium.  He  had  first  distinguished  himself  at  the  siege  of  Perusia 
*  Thurinus  is  said  to  have  been  given  him  as  a  cognomen. 


31-27  B.C.  AGB1PPA   AND   MAECENAS.  & 

(41  B.C),  and,  subsequently,  his  victories  over  the  Germans  beyond 
the  Rhine  established  his  military  fame.  His  success  was  due  to 
his  own  energy,  for  he  had  no  interest,  and,  belonging  to  an 
obscure  gens,  he  was  regarded  by  the  nobility  as  an  upstart.  He 
was  not,  perhaps,  a  man  of  culture,  but  Ms  tastes  were  liberal.  His 
interest  in  architecture  was  signalised  by  many  useful  buildings ;  and 
Gaul  owed  him  a  great  debt  for  the  roads  which  he  constructed  in 
that  country.  In  appearance  he  is  said  to  have  been  stern  and 
rngized;  in  temper  he  was  reserved  and  proud.  He  was  ambitious, 
but  only  for  the  second  place  ;  yet  he  was  the  one  man  who  might 
have  been  a  successful  rival  of  his  master. 

Maecenas  resembled  Agrippa  in  his  unselfish  loyalty  to  Caesar ; 
but  his  character  was  very  different.  Like  Agrippa,  he  did  not 
aspire  to  become  the  peer  of  their  common  master;  but  while  the 
heart  of  Agrippa  was  set  on  being  acknowledged  as  second, 
Msecenas  preferred  to  have  no  recognised  position.  Agrippa's 
excellence  was  in  the  craft  of  war;  while  Maecenas  cultivated  the 
arts  of  peace.  Agrippa  had  forwarded  the  cause  of  Caesar  by  his 
generalship ;  Maecenas  aided  him  by  diplomacy.  It  will  be  re- 
membered how  the  latter  negotiated  the  treaties  of  Brundusium  and 
Misenum.  During  the  campaigns  which  demanded  the  presence 
of  Ctasar,  Msecenas  conducted  the  administration  of  affairs  in 
Italy,  and  watched  over  the  interests  of  the  absent  triumvir. 
Until  his  death,  (8  B.C.)  he  continued  to  be  the  trusted  friend  and 
adviser,  in  fact,  the  alter  ego  of  Caesar ;  and  he  had  probably  no 
small  share  in  making  the  constitution  of  the  Empire.  But  he 
always  kept  himself  in  the  background.  He  was  content  with  the 
real  power  which  he  enjoyed  by  his  immense  influence  with  Csesar ; 
he  despised  offices  and  honours.  It  is  characteristic  of  the  man 
that  he  refused  to  pass  from  the  equestrian  into  the  senatorial 
order.  He  could  indeed  afford  to  look  down  upon  many  of  the 
nobles ;  for  he  came  of  an  illustrious  Etruscan  race.  In  his  tastes 
and  manner  of  life  he  was  unlike  both  Agrippa  and  Cassar.  He  was 
neither  rough  nor  simple.  A  refined  voluptuary,  he  made  an  art 
of  luxury ;  and  it  was  quite  consistent  that  ambition  should  have  no 
place  in  his  theory  of  life.  When  affairs  called  for  energy  and  zeal, 
no  one  was  more  energetic  and  unresting  than  Maecenas ;  but  hi 
hours  of  ease  he  almost  went  beyond  the  effeminacy  of  a  woman.* 
Saturated  with  the  best  culture  of  his  day,  he  took  an  enlightened 
interest  in  literature.  Of  the  circle  of  men  of  letters  which  he 
formed  around  himself  there  will  be  an  occasion  to  speak  in  a 
future  chapter. 

*  This  Is  the  expression  of  Velleius  Paterculus :  otio  ac  mollitiis  ptene  ultra 
feminamfluens. 


4  FROM   THE  BATTLE  OF  ACTIUM.         CHAP.  I. 

Such  were  the  men  who  helped  Caasar  to  win  the  first  place  in 
the  state ;  and  who,  when  he  had  become  the  ruler  of  the  world, 
devoted  themselves  to  his  service  without  rivalry  or  jealousy. 
Agrippa  became  consul  for  the  second  time  in  28  B.O.,  with  the 
triumvir  for  his  colleague;  and  his  friendship  with  Caesar  was 
soon  cemented  by  a  new  tie.  He  married  Marcella,  the  daughter 
of  Octavia,  Caasar's  sister,  by  her  first  husband,  C.  Marcellus.* 

§  3.  The  battle  of  Actium  decided  between  Antonius  and 
Cassar.  But  it  also  decided  a  still  greater  question.  It  decided  be- 
tween the  East  and  the  West.  For  the  Roman  world  had  been 
seriously  threatened  by  the  danger  of  an  Oriental  despotism.  The 
policy  of  Antonius  in  the  East,  his  connection  with  Cleopatra,  the 
idea  of  making  Alexandria  a  second  Rome,  show  that  if  things  had 
turned  out  otherwise  at  Actium,  Egypt  would  have  obtained  an 
undue  preponderance  in  the  Roman  State,  and  the  empire  might 
have  been  founded  in  the  form  of  an  Eastern  monarchy.  Caesar 
recognised  the  significance  of  Egypt,  and  took  measures  to  prevent 
future  danger  from  that  quarter.  It  was  of  course  out  of  the 
question  to  allow  the  dynasty  of  Greek  kings  to  continue.  But 
instead  of  forming  a  new  province,  Caesar  treated  the  land  as  if  he 
were,  by  the  right  of  conquest,  the  successor  of  Cleopatra,  and  of 
Ptolemy  Csesarion,  whom  he  had  put  to  death.  He  did  not,  indeed, 
assume  the  title  of  king,  but  he  appointed  a  prefect,  who  was 
responsible  to  himself  alone,  and  was  in  every  sense  a  viceroy  ;  and, 
as  the  lord  of  the  country,  he  enacted  that  no  Roman  senator 
should  visit  it  without  his  special  permission.  The  first  prefect  of 
Egypt  was  C.  Cornelius  Gallus,  with  whose  help  Caesar  had 
captured  Alexandria.  The  inhabitants  of  Egypt  were  debarred 
from  the  prospect  of  becoming  Roman  citizens,  and  no  local 
government  was  granted  to  the  cities. f 

The  treasures  of  Cleopatra  enabled  Cassar  to  discharge  many 
pressing  obligations.  He  was  able  to  pay  back  the  loans  which  he 
had  incurred  in  the  civil  wars.  He  was  able  also  to  give  large 
donatives  to  the  soldiers  and  the  populace  of  Rome.  The  abundance 
of  money  which  the  conquest  of  Egypt  suddenly  poured  upon 
Western  Europe  helped  in  no  small  measure  to  establish  a  new 
period  of  prosperity.  After  many  dreary  years  of  domestic  war 
and  financial  difficulties,  men  now  saw  a  prospect  of  peace  and 
plenty. 

But,  above  all,  the  booty  of  Egypt  enabled  Csesar  to  satisfy  the 
demands  of  120,000  veterans.  Immediately  after  Actium  he  had 
discharged  all  ihe  soldiers  who  had  served  their  time,  but  without 

*  Octavia's    second   husband  was    M.I      f  See  below,  Chap.  VTL  $  8. 
Antonius. 


31-27  B.C.    SETTLEMENT   OF   CESAR'S   VETERANS.  5 

giving  them  the  rewards  which  they  had  been  led  to  expect.  These 
veterans  belonged  both  to  Caasar's  own  army  and  to  that  oi 
Antonius  which  had  capitulated.  Seeing  that  they  would  be  of 
little  importance  after  the  conclusion  of  the  civil  wars,  they  made  a 
stand  as  soon  as  they  reached  Italy,  and  demanded  that  their 
claims  should  be  instantly  satisfied.  Agrippa,  who  had  returned 
with  the  troops,  and  Maecenas,  to  whom  Caasar  had  entrusted  the 
administration  of  Italy,  were  unable  to  pacify  the  soldiers,  and  it 
was  found  necessary  to  send  for  Csesar  himself,  who  was  wintering 
in  Samos.  The  voyage  was  dangerous  at  that  season  of  the  year, 
but  Cassar,  after  experiencing  two  severe  storms,  in  which  some  of 
his  ships  were  lost,  reached  Brundusium  safely.  He  succeeded  in 
satisfying  the  veterans,  some  with  grants  of  land,  others  with 
money ;  but  his  funds  were  quite  insufficient  to  meet  the  claims  of 
all,  and  he  had  to  put  off  many  with  promises.  He  thus  gained 
time  until  the  immense  Egyptian  booty  gave  him  means  to  fulfil 
his  obligations. 

The  greater  number  of  the  veterans  were  of  Italian  origin,  and 
wished  to  receive  land  in  their  native  country.  As  most  of  the 
Italians  had  supported  the  cause  of  Cassar,  it  was  impossible  to  do  on 
a  large  scale  what  had  been  done  ten  years  before,  and  eject  proprietors 
to  make  room  for  the  soldiers.  But  the  veterans  of  Antonius,  who 
had  on  that  occasion  been  settled  in  the  districts  of  Ravenna,  Bononia, 
Capua,  &c.,  and  sympathized  with  his  cause,  were  now  forcibly  turned 
out  of  the  holdings  which  they  had  forcibly  acquired.  They  were, 
however — unlike  the  original  proprietors — compensated  by  assign- 
ments  of  land  in  the  provinces,  especially  in  the  East,  where  the  civil 
war  had  depopulated  many  districts.  But  the  land  thus  made 
available  was  not  nearly  enough,  and  Caasar  was  obliged  to  purchase 
the  rest.  In  B.C.  30  and  B.C.  14,  he  spent  no  less  than  600 
million  sesterces  (about  £5,000,000)  in  buying  Italian  farms  for  his 
veterans.  We  find  traces  of  these  settlements  in  various  parts  of 
Italy,  especially  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Ateste  (Este).  After  the 
conquest  of  Egypt,  the  Antonian  troops  were  transferred  to  the 
south  of  Gaul,  and  settled  there  in  colonies  possessing  ius  Latinum, 
for  example,  in  Nemausus  (Nimes). 

The  wholesale  discharge  of  veterans,  as  well  as  the  losses  sustained 
in  the  wars,  rendered  a  reorganisation  of  the  legions  necessary. 
The  plan  was  adopted  of  uniting  those  legions  which  had  been 
greatly  reduced  iu  number  with  others  which  had  been  similarly 
diminished,  and  thus  forming  new  «*  double-legions,"  as  they  were 
called  by  the  distinguishing  title  of  Oemina.  Thus  were  formed 
the  Thirteenth  Gemma,  the  Fourteenth  Gemma,  &c. 

§  4.  The  greater  part  of  the  year  following  the  death  of  Cieo- 


6 


FKOM  THE  BATTLE  OF  ACTIUM. 


CHAP.  L 


patra  (Aug.,  B.C.  30)  was  occupied  by  Caesar  in  ordering  the 
affairs  of  the  Asiatic  provinces  and  dependent  kingdoms.  Herod  of 
Judea  was  rewarded  for  his  valuable  services  by  an  extension  of  his 
territory,  and  several  changes  were  made  in  regard  to  the  petty 
principalities  of  Asia  Minor.*  There  was  probably  some  expecta- 
tion at  Rome  that  Csesar,  in  the  flush  of  his  success,  would  attempt 
to  try  conclusions  with  the  Parthian  Empire,  and  retrieve  the  defeat 
of  Carrh.ie,  before  he  returned  to  Italy.  Virgil  addresses  him  at  this 
time  in  high-flown  language,  as  if  he  were  the  arbiter  of  peace  and 
war  in  Asia,f  as  far  as  the  Indies.  But  Caesar  deferred  the 
settlement  of  the  Parthian  question. 

In  the  summer  of  29  B.C.  he  returned  to  Italy,  where  he  was 
greeted  by  the  senate  and  the  people  with  an  enthusiasm  which 
was  certainly  not  feigned.  There  was  a  general  feeling  of  relief  at 
the  end  of  the  civil  wars,  and  men  heartily  welcomed  Cassar  as  a 
deliverer  and  restorer  of  peace.  The  only  note  of  opposition 
had  come  from  a  son  of  M.  ^Bmilins  Lepidus,  the  triumvir.  The 
father  lived  in  peaceful  retirement  at  Circeii,  but  the  son  was  rash 
and  ambitious,  and  formed  the  plan  of  murdering  Caasar  on  his 
return.  He  did  not  take  his  father  into  the  secret,  but  his 
mother  Junia,  a  sister  of  Brutus,  was  privy  to  it.  Maecenas 
discovered  the  conspiracy  in  good  time,  and  promptly  arrested 
Junia  and  her  son.  Young  Lepidus  was  immediately  despatched  to 
Caesar  in  the  East,  and  was  there  executed.  But  this  incident  was 
of  little  consequence;  Caasar's  position  was  perfectly  safe.  The 
honours  which  were  paid  to  him  would  have  been  accorded  with  an 
equal  show  of  enthusiasm  to  Antonius,  if  fortune  had  declared  her- 
self for  him;  but  there  is  little  doubt  that  Caesar  was  more 
acceptable.  The  senate  decreed  that  his  birthday  should  be 
included  among  the  public  holidays,  and  it  was  afterwards 
regularly  celebrated  by  races.  His  name  was  mentioned  along 
with  the  gods  in  the  Carmen  Saliare,  and  it  is  probable  that,  if  he 
had  really  wished  it,  divine  honours  would  have  been  decreed  to 
him  in  Rome,  such  as  were  paid  to  him  in  Egypt,  where  he  stepped 
into  the  place  of  the  Ptolemies,  and  in  Asia  Minor,  where  he 
assumed  the  privileges  of  the  Attalids.  But  though  he  had  become 
a  god  in  the  East,  Csesar  wished  to  remain  a  man  in  Rome.J  He 
already  possessed  the  tribunician  power  §  for  life;  but  it  was  now 

J  For  his  worship,  subsequently  es- 
tablished, in  the  western  provinces,  see 
below,  Chap.  VI.  $$  5  and  6. 

$  The  potestas  or  maeisterial  power 
which  belonaed  to  a  tribune  of  the  plebs 
Involved  the  following  important  rights  • 
(1)  the  power  of  summoning  the  plebs 


*  For    these     changes,     see     below, 
Chap.  VII.  $  5. 

f  Oeorgics,  ii.  170 : 

Maxime  Csesar 

Qui  nunc  extremis  Asiae  lam  victor  in  oris 
Inbellem   avertis  RomaniB    arcibus  In- 


31-27  B.O. 


THE   TRIUMPH   OV   GMSAEi. 


granted  again  in  an  extended  form.  It  was  also  decreed  that  every 
fourth  anniversary  of  his  victory  should  be  commemorated  by 
games  (ludi  Actiaci) ;  and  that  the  rostra  and  trophies  of  the 
captured  ships  should  adorn  the  temple  of  the  divine  Julius. 
Triumphal  arches  were  to  be  erected  in  the  Eoman  Forum  and  at 
Brundusium,  to  celebrate  the  victor's  return  to  Italy;  and  a 
sacrifice  of  thanksgiving  was  offered  to  the  gods  by  the  senate 
and  people,  and  by  every  private  person. 

The  triumph  of  Caesar  lasted  three  days  (Aug.  13,  14,  15). 
The  soldiers  who  had  been  disbanded  returned  to  their  standards 
in  order  to  take  part  in  it,  and  all  the  troops  which  had  shared 
in  his  victories  were  concentrated  close  to  Borne.  Each  soldier 
received  1000  sesterces  (about  £8)  as  a  triumphal  gift;  and  the 
Roman  populace  also  received  400  sesterces  a  head.  The  triumph 
represented  victories  over  the  three  known  continents.  The  first 
days  were  devoted  to  the  celebration  of  conquests  in  Europe;  the 
subjugation  of  Pannonia  and  Dalmatia,  and  some  successes  won  in 
Gaul  over  rebellious  tribes  by  C.  Carrinas  during  Cesar's  absence 
in  the  East.  The  triumph  for  Actium,  which  took  place  on  the 
second  day,  represented  a  victory  over  the  forces  of  Asia.  The 
trophies  were  far  more  splendid  than  those  won  from  the  poor 
prince*  of  Illyricum.  The  poet  Propertius  describes  how  he  saw 
"the  necks  of  kings  bound  with  go'den  chains,  and  the  fleet  of 
Actium  sailing  up  the  Via  Sacra."  Among  the  kings  were 
Alexander  of  Emesa,  whom  Csesar  had  deposed  after  the  battle,  and 
Adiatorix,  a  Graktian  prince,  who  before  the  battle  had  massacred 
all  the  Romans  he  could  lay  hands  on.  Both  these  captives  were 
executed  after  the  triumph.  But  the  third  day,  which  saw  the 
triumph  over  A  frica,  was  much  the  most  brilliant.  Cleopatra  had,  by 
destroying  herself,  avoided  the  shame  of  adorning  her  conqueror's 
triumphal  car,  but  a  statue  of  her  was  carried  in  her  stead,  and  her 
two  young  children,  Alexander  and  Cleopatra,  represented  the  fallen 
house  of  Egyptian  royalty.  Images  of  the  Nile  and  Egypt  were 
also  carried  in  the  triumphal  procession,  and  the  richest  spoils,  with 


even  against  the  will  of  the  patrician 
magistrates,  and  making  re  olutions  in 
the  assemblies  of  the  tribes ;  (2)  the  power 
of  hindering  the  proceedings  of  other 
magistrates,  in  case  he  was  appealed  to 
for  help,  within  the  first  milestone  from 
the  city;  (3)  the  right  of  interceding 
against  decrees  of  the  senate  and  against 
the  acts  of  other  magistrates ;  (4)  the  right 
of  coerci'io— that  is,  of  suppressing  and 
punishing  any  person  who  attempted  to 
hinder  him  in  his  acts,  or  who  insulted 


him  in  any  way.  The  tribunician  potestat 
was  hallowed  by  religious  sanctity  (sacro* 
sancta}\  the  tribune's  person  was  invio- 
lable. As  there  was  no  means  of  opposing 
it  except  by  the  intercession  of  anothei 
tribune,  or  by  an  appeal  (jirovocatio)  tc 
the  comitia  centuriata  or  tributa,lt  became 
the  strongest  kind  of  power  in  the  consti- 
tution, and  was  adopted  by  the  Casars. 
both  dictator  and  triumvir,  as  a  support 
of  their  position. 


8  FROM  THE  BATTLE  OP  ACTIUM.         QHAP.  I. 

quantities  of  gold  and  silver  coins,  were  exhibited  to  the  gaze  of  the 
people.  The  result  of  the  great  influx  of  money  into  Italy  was  that 
the  rate  of  interest  fell  from  12  to  4  per  cent.  In  one  respect  the 
order  of  Caesar's  triumph  departed  from  the  traditional  custom. 
His  fellow-consul  M.  Valerius  Messalla  Potitus,  and  the  other 
senators  who  took  part  in  the  triumph,  instead  of  heading  the 
procession  and  guiding  the  triumphator  into  the  city,  according 
to  usage,  were  placed  last  of  all.  This  innovation  was  significant 
of  the  coming  monarchy. 

On  this  occasion  the  buildings,  which  Julius  Cassar  had  designed 
and  begun,  and  which  had  been  completed  since  his  death,  were 
dedicated,  and  his  own  temple  was  consecrated  by  his  son  with 
special  solemnity.  The  game  of  "  Troy  "  was  represented  in  the 
Circus  Maximus  by  boys  of  noble  family,  divided  into  two  parties, 
of  which  one  was  commanded  by  Caesar's  stepson,  Tiberius  Nero, 
the  future  Emperor.  A  statue  of  Victory  was  set  up  in  the  Senate- 
house.  The  occasion  was  further  celebrated  by  games  and 
gladiatorial  combats,  in  which  a  Roman  senator  did  not  disdain  to 
take  part. 

But  these  festivities  were  less  significant  for  the  inauguration  of  a 
new  period  than  the  solemn  closing  of  the  temple  of  Janus,  which 
had  been  ordained  by  the  senate,  probably  early  in  the  same  year 
(Jan.  11).  The  ceremonies  instituted  for  such  an  occasion  by  King 
Numa  had  not  been  witnessed  for  more  than  two  hundred  years,  for 
the  last  occasion  on  which  the  gates  of  Janus  had  been  shut  was  at 
the  conclusion  of  the  First  Punic  War.  Strictly  speaking,  peace 
was  not  yet  established  in  every  corner  of  the  Roman  realm.  There 
were  hostilities  still  going  on  against  mountain  tribes  hi  northern 
Spain,  and  on  the  German  frontier.  But  these  were  small  matters, 
mere  child's  play,  which  shrank  to  complete  insignificance  by  the 
side  of  the  Civil  War  which  had  been  distracting  the  Roman  world 
for  the  last  twenty  years.  Peace  (the  famous  pax  Romano)  had  in 
every  sense  come  at  length,  and  it  was  fitting  that  the  doors  of 
war  should  be  closed  at  the  beginning  of  an  empire,  of  which  the 
saying  that  "  Empire  is  peace,"  *  was  pre-eminently  true. 

§  5.  The  powers  which  Caasar  possessed  as  a  triumvir  were  uncon- 
stitutional, and  were,  by  their  nature,  intended  to  be  only  temporary. 
Besides  the  ordinary  imperium  domi  of  a  consul  and  an  extra- 
ordinary imperium  (militise)  in  the  provinces,  the  triumvir  had  the 
power  of  making  laws  and  of  appointing  magistrates,  which  consti- 
tutionally belonged  to  the  comitia  of  the  people.  When  peace  was 
restored  to  the  world,  it  might  be  expected  that  Caesar  would  at  once 
restore  to  the  people  the  functions  which  had  been  made  over  to  him 
*  "  L' Empire,  c'est  la  paix,"  a  saying  of  the  third  Napoleon. 


31-27  B.C.  THE   PAX  EOMANA.  9 

for  a  time.  It  was  quite  out  of  the  question  to  restore  the  state  oi 
things  which  had  existed  before  the  elevation  of  Caesar,  the  Dictator. 
The  rule  of  the  senate  had  been  proved  to  be  corrupt  and  incompetent, 
and  annual  magistrates  were  powerless  in  the  face  of  a  body  whose 
members  held  their  seats  for  life.  The  only  way  out  of  the  diffi- 
culty was  to  place  the  reins  of  government  in  the  hands  of  one  man. 
This  had  been  done  directly  in  the  case  of  Caesar  the  father ;  and  it 
had  been  the  indirect  result  of  the  triumvirate  in  the  case  of  Caesar 
the  son.  But  the  latter  resolved  to  establish  his  supremacy  on  a 
constitutional  basis,  and  harmonize  his  sovranty  with  republican 
institutions.  A  dictatorship  could  be  created  only  to  meet 
some  special  crisis ;  and  a  "  triumvir  to  constitute  the  state  "  was 
clearly  absurd  when  the  state  had  once  been  "constituted." 
Neither  the  office  of  a  dictator  nor  the  powers  of  the  triumvirate 
were  theoretically  suitable  to  form  the  foundation  of  a  permanent 
government;  and  the  logically-minded  Csesar  was  not  likely  to 
leave  the  constitutional  shape  of  his  rule  undefined  or  to  be 
content  with  an  inconsistent  theory. 

He  did  not,  however,  at  once  lay  down  the  triumviral  powers 
which  had  been  conferred  on  him  by  the  Lex  Titia  (43  B.O.). 
For  a  year  and  a  half  after  his  triumph  he  seems  to  have  remained 
a  triumvir — or  at  least  in  possession  of  the  powers  which  belonged 
to  him  as  triumvir — but  it  is  not  clear  how  far  during  that  time 
he  made  use  of  those  unconstitutional  rights.  He  was  consul  for 
the  fifth  time  in  29  B.C.  and  again  in  28  B.C.,  and  it  is  probable 
that  he  acted  during  these  years  by  his  rights  as  consul,  as  far 
as  possible,  and  not  by  his  rights  as  triumvir.  There  was,  however, 
much  to  be  done  in  Rome  and  in  Italy,  that  might  truly  come 
under  the  name  of  "constituting  the  state."  Two  of  the  most 
important  measures  carried  out  hi  these  years  were  the  increase 
of  the  patriciate  and  the  reform  of  the  senate.  In  30  B.C.  a 
law  (Lex  Saenia)  was  passed,  enabling  Csesar  to  replenish  the  ex- 
hausted patrician  class  by  the  admission  of  new  families ;  and  he 
carried  out  this  measure  in  the  following  year.  In  28  B.O.  he 
exercised  the  functions  of  the  censorship,  in  conjunction  with 
Agrippa,  who  was  his  colleague  in  the  consulship.  They  not  only 
held  a  census,  but  performed  a  purgation  of  the  senate,  and  introduced 
some  reforms  in  its  constitution.*  Csesar  also  caused  all  the 
measures  which  had  been  taken  during  the  civil  wars  to  be  repealed ; 
but  the  compass  and  the  eliect  of  this  act  are  not  quite  clear  (28 
B.C.).  In  the  same  year  he  marked  his  intention  to  return  to  the 
constitutional  forms  of  the  republic  by  changing  the  consular  fasces, 
according  to  custom,  with  his  colleague  Agrippa,  and  thus  acknow- 

*  See  below.  Chap.  III.  $  3. 


10 


FROM   THE   BATTLE  OF  ACT1UM. 


CHAP,  r 


ledging  his  fellow-consul  to  be  his  equal.    He  also  began  to  restore 
the  administration  of  the  provinces  to  the  senate. 

In  27  B.C.  Caesar  assumed  the  consulate  for  the  seventh  time,  and 
Agrippa  was  again  his  colleague.  It  seems  that  he  had  already 
partly  divested  himself  of  his  extraordinary  powers,*  but  the  time  had 
at  length  come  to  lay  them  down  altogether,  though  only  to  receive 
equivalent  power  again  in  a  different  and  more  constitutional  form. 
On  January  13  he  resigned  in  the  senate  his  office  as  triumvir  and 
his  proconsular  imperium,  and  for  a  moment  the  statement  of  a 
contemporary  writer  was  literally  true,  that  "  the  ancient  form  of 
the  republic  was  recalled."  f  And  thus  Caesar  could  be  described  on 
coins  as  "  Vindicator  of  the  liberty  of  the  Roman  people  "  (libertatis 
P.  B.  vindex).  In  the  next  chapter  we  shall  see  in  what  shape 
Csesar  and  his  councillors,  while  they  nominally  restored  the 
republic,  really  inaugurated  an  empire  which  was  destined  to  last 
well-nigh  fifteen  hundred  years. 


*  In  his  Res  Oestee  Augustus  describes 
his  restoration  of  the  Republic  as  follows : 
"In  my  sixth  and  seventh  consulships, 
after  I  had  extinguished  the  civil  wars, 
having  by  universal  consent  become  lord 
of  all,  I  transferred  the  republic  from 
my  power  into  the  hands  of  the  senate 


and  i  he  Roman  people."    See  Note  A.  at 
end  of  following  chapter. 

•{•  In  the  speech  which  Dion  Cassius 
puts  into  his  mouth  on  this  occasion, 
Caesar  says,  "  I  restore  to  you  the  armies 
and  the  provinces,  the  revenues  and  the 
laws  "  (55.  9). 


NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


THE  DEFINITION  OF  OESAR'S 
POWER  IN  29  AND  28  B.C. 

The  difficult  question  as  to  the  legal 
position  of  Caesar  after  his  triumph,  and 
the  powers  which  he  held  between  his 
return  to  Rome  and  January  13,  27  B.C., 
has  been  fully  discussed  by  Herzog  (Gte- 
schichte  und  System  der  romischen  Staats- 
verfassung,  il.  p.  130  sqq.).  He  rejects 
the  idea,  which  one  would  at  first  sight 
infer  from  the  statements  of  our  authori- 
ties, that  Caesar  simply  retained  the 
powers  given  him  by  the  Lex  Titia,  and 
thinks  that  if  he  had  done  so  it  would 
have  seemed  a  usurpation.  (He  rightly 
dismisses  the  view  of  Dion,  that  the  census 
was  performed  by  virtue  of  the  inherited 
title  Imperator,  and  the  divergent  state- 
ment of  Suetonius,  that  it  was  by  virtue 
of  a  perpetual  moi-um  legumquc  regimen, 
specially  conferred  on  him.  Augustus 
himself  expressly  states  in  his  Res  Gestae 


that  this  regimen  of  manners  and  laws 
had  been  oft7. Ted  to  him,  but  refused.) 
His  own  view  is  that  after  the  civil  war, 
in  29  B.C.,  the  extraordinary  powers,  which 
Caesar  held  by  the  Lex  Titia.  were  legal- 
ised  by  a  new  formal  act — a  law  defining 
bis  imperium  consular^,  both  as  extending 
over  the  provi-  ces  and  the  armies,  and  as 
constitutive,  wiih  inclusion  of  tbr  cen- 
sorial function^.  There  does  not  seem  to 
be  sufficient  evi  lence  for  this  combination, 
which  chiefly  rests  on  the  expression  of 
Augustus(Res  Gestse,  6. 13),  t,erconsenmm 
unire'Sorum  [potitus  rerum  omn]ium. 
But  whether  ther^  was  a  new  lex  or  not, 
;  the  powers  of  C*'sar  in  these  years  were 
I  the  same  as  those  which  he  possessed  as 
|  triumvir  before  29  B.C. 

In  regard  to  the  censorial  functions 
which  he  is  said  by  Dion  to  have  exercised 
in  29  B.C.,  and  which  he  states  hi  •  self  he 
exercised  in  28  B.C.,  there  is  some  diffi- 
culty. Herzog  thinks  he  cannot  have 


CHAP.  i. 


NOTES  AND  ILLUSTBATIONS. 


11 


done  this  as  consul;  for  a  census  did  not 
usually  extend  over  two  <  onsular  years ; 
and,  moreover,  Agrippa,  who  was  his 
colleague  in  the  census  (Dion.  ?2. 42),  was 
aot  his  colleague  in  the  consulate  in  29 
B.C.  It  seems  most  simple  to  suppose 


that  Pion  made  a  mistake  about  the  date, 
and  that  both  the  census  and  the  purifi- 
cation of  the  senate  were  carried  out  in 
28  B.C.  by  the  consuls  in  virtue  of  the 
censorial  power,  which  in  the  ancient 
republic  was  part  of  the  consular  office. 


Temple  of  Mars  Oltor. 


Augustus  crowned  (from  the  Vienna  Cameo). 
CHAPTER    II. 

THE  PBINCIPATE. 

§  1.  The  new  constitution  of  Augustus :  its  first  and  its  final  form. 
§  2.  The  title  princeps.  §  3.  Constitutional  theory  of  the  Principate. 
Consecration.  No  designation.  The  Principate  elective,  not  hereditary. 
Mode  of  election.  §  4.  Honorary  titles.  The  Princeps  has  neither 
censorial  nor  consular  power.  §  5.  Style  of  the  imperial  name. 
Imperator.  Cxsar.  Augustus.  §  6.  Insignia  and  privileges  of  the 
Princeps.  Amid  Cassaris.  Comites. 

§  1.  THE  task  which  devolved  upon  Csesar  when  he  had  resigned  the 
triumvirate  and  the  proconsular  power  which  had  been  conferred 
on  him  in  43  B.C.,  was  to  restore  the  republic  and  yet  place  its 
administration  in  the  hands  of  one  man,  to  disguise  the  monarchy, 
which  he  already  possessed,  under  a  constitutional  form,  to  be  a 
second  Romulus  without  being  a  king.  He  still  held  the  tribunician 
power  which  had  been  given  him  for  life  in  36  B.C. 

On  January  16,  in  the  year  of  the  city  727,  three  days  after 
Caasar  had  laid  down  his  extraordinary  powers,  the  Roman  Empire 
formally  began.  Muuatius  Plancus  on  that  day  proposed  in  the  senate 
that  the  surname  Augustus  should  be  conferred  on  Caesar  in  recog- 
nition of  his  services  to  the  state.  This  name  did  not  bestow  any 


27  B.C.          FIRST  FORM  OF  THE  PRINCIPATE.  13 

political  power,  but  it  became  perhaps  the  most  distinctive  and 
significant  name  of  the  Emperor.  It  suggested  religious  sanctity 
and  surrounded  the  son  of  the  deified  Julius  with  a  halo  of  con- 
secration. The  actual  power  on  which  the  Empire  rested,  the 
imperium  proconsulare,  was  conferred  upon,*  or  rather  renewed  for, 
Augustus  (so  we  ma}-  now  call  him)  for  a  period  of  ten  years,  but 
renewable  after  that  period.  This  imperium  was  of  the  same  kind 
as  that  which  had  been  given  to  Pompeius  by  the  Gabinian  and 
Manilian  laws.  The  Imperator  had  an  exclusive  command  over 
the  armies  and  fleet  of  the  republic,  and  his  "  province  "  included 
all  the  most  important  frontier  provinces.  But  this  im-perium  was 
essentially  military ;  and  Rome  and  Italy  were  excluded  fronf  its 
sphere.  It  was  therefore  insufficient  by  itself  to  establish  a  sovranty, 
which  was  to  be  practically  a  restoration  of  royalty,  while  it 
pretended  to  preserve  the  republican  constitution.  The  idea  of 
Augustus,  from  which  his  new  constitution  derived  its  special 
character,  was  to  supplement  and  reinforce  the  imperium  by  one  of 
the  higher  magistracies. 

His  first  plan  was  to  combine  the  proconsular  imperium  with  the 
consulship.!  He  was  consul  in  27  B.C.,  and  he  caused  himself  to 
be  re-elected  to  that  magistracy  each  year  for  the  four  following 
years.  The  consular  imperium,  which  he  thus  possessed,  gave  him 
not  only  a  locus  standi  in  Rome  and  Italy,  but  also  affected  his 
position  in  the  provinces.  For  if  he  only  held  the  proconsular  impe- 
rium he  was  merely  on  a  level  legally  with  other  proconsular 
governors,  although  his  "  province "  was  far  larger  than  theirs. 
But  as  consul,  his  imperium  ranked  as  superior  (maius)  over  that 
of  the  proconsuls.  He  found,  however,  that  there  were  drawbacks 
to  this  plan.  As  consul  he  bad  a  colleague,  whose  power  was 
legally  equal;  and  this  position  was  clearly  awkward  for  the 
head  of  the  state.  Moreover,  if  one  consul  was  perpetual,  the 
number  of  persons  elected  to  the  consulship  must  be  smaller ;  and 
consequently  there  would  be  fewer  men  available  for  those 
offices  which  were  only  filled  by  men  of  consular  rank.  The 
consuls  too  were  regarded  as  in  a  certain  way  representative  of 
the  senate ;  and  the  Emperor,  the  child  of  the  democracy,  might 
prefer  to  be  regarded  as  representative  of  the  people.  His  thoughts 
therefore  turned  to  the  tribunate,  which  was  specially  the  magistracy 
of  the  p>  ople.  But  it  would  have  been  more  awkward  to  found 

*  But  see  NoteB.  at  end  of  this  chapter,     the    name  Augustus.    Ovid  records  the 


t  It  is  not  known  whether  the  imperium 
was  renewed  for  C»  sar  on  the  same  day 
on  which  he  restored  the  republic  (Janu- 
ary 13)  or  on  January  16,  when  he  received 


whole  under  January  13,  in  Fasti,  i.  589. 
Redditaque  est  omnis  populo  pro  vincia. 

nostro 
Et  tnus  Augusto  nomine  dictus  aviu. 


14  THE  PKINC1FATB.  CHAP.  n. 

supremacy  in  civil  affairs  on  the  authority  of  one  of  ten  tribunes 
than  on  the  powers  of  one  of  two  consuls.  Accordingly  Augustus 
fell  back  on  the  tribunicia  potestas,  which  he  had  retained,  but  so 
far  seems  to  have  made  little  use  of. 

In  23  B.C.  he  gave  up  his  first  tentative  plan  and  made  the 
tribunicia  potestas,  instead  of  the  consulship,  which  he  resigned 
on  June  27,  the  second  pillar  of  his  power.  The  tribunician  power 
was  his  for  life,  but  he  now  made  it  annual  as  well  as  perpetual, 
and  dated  from  this  year  the  years  of  his  reign.  Thus  in  a  very 
narrow  sense  the  Empire  might  be  said  to  have  begun  in  23  B.C.  ; 
in  that  year  at  least  the  constitution  of  Augustus  received  its  final 
form.  After  this  year,  his  eleventh  consulship,  Augustus  held  that 
office  only  twice  (5  and  2  B.C.).  Subsequent  Emperors  generally 
assumed  it  more  than  once  ;  but  it  was  rather  a  distinction  for  the 
colleague  than  an  advantage  for  the  Emperor. 

But  the  tribunicia  potestas  alone  was  not  a  sufficient  substitute 
for  the  consulare  imperium  which  Augustus  had  surrendered  by 
resigning  the  consulate.  Accordingly  a  series  of  privileges  and 
rights  were  conferred  upon  him  by  special  acts  in  23  B.C.  and  the 
following  years.  He  received  the  right  of  convening  the  senate 
when  he  chose,*  and  of  proposing  the  first  motion  at  its  meetings 
(ius  primas  relationis).  His  proconsular  imperium  was  defined  as 
"  superior  "  (maius)  to  that  of  other  proconsuls.  He  received  the 
right  of  the  twelve  fasces  in  Rome,  and  of  sitting  between  the 
consuls,  and  thus  he  was  equalised  with  the  consuls  in  external 
dignity  (19  B.C.).  He  probably  received  too  the  ius  edicendi,  that 
is,  the  power  of  issuing  magisterial  edicts.f  These  rights,  conferred 
upon  Augustus  by  separate  acts,  were  afterwards  drawn  up  in  a 
single  form  of  law,  by  which  the  senate  and  people  conferred  them 
on  each  succeeding  Emperor.  Thus  the  constitutional  position  of 
the  Emperor  rested  on  three  bases  :  the  proconsular  imperium,  the 
tribuniciaii  potestas,  and  a  special  law  of  investiture  with  certain 
other  prerogatives. 

§  2.  The  title  imperator  expressed  only  the  proconsular  and 
military  power  of  the  Emperor.  The  one  word  which  could  have 
expressed  the  sum  of  all  his  functions  as  head  of  the  state, — rex — 
was  just  the  title  which  Augustus  would  on  no  account  have 
assumed ;  for  by  doing  so  he  would  have  thrown  off  the  republican 
disguise  which  was  essential  to  his  position.  The  key  to  the 
Empire,  as  Augustus  constituted  it,  is  that  the  Emperor  was  a 
magistrate,  not  a  monarch.  But  a  word  was  wanted,  which,  with- 
out emphasizing  any  special  side  of  the  Emperor's  power  should 

*  This  right,  however,  might  have  been  I     f  Perhaps  in  19  B.C.  (Herzog). 
derived  from  the  tribunician  power. 


23  B.C.        MEANING  OF  THE  NAME  PRINCEPS. 


15 


indicate  his  supreme  authority  in  the  republic.  Augustus  chose 
the  name  princeps  *  to  do  this  informal  duty.  The  name  meant 
"the  first  citizen  in  the  state" — -princeps  civitatis — and  thus 
implied  at  once  supremacy  and  equality,  quite  in  accordance  with 
the  spirit  of  Augustus'  constitution;  but  did  not  suggest  any 
definite  functions.  It  was  purely  a  name  of  courtesy.  It  must 
be  carefully  distinguished  from  the  title  princeps  senatus.  The 
senator  who  was  first  on  the  list  of  the  conscript  fathers,  and  had 
a  right  to  be  asked  his  opinion  first,  was  called  princeps  senatus ; 
and  that  position  had  been  assigned  to  Augustus  in  28  B.C.  But 
when  he  or  others  spoke  or  wrote  of  the  princepsy  they  did  not 
mean  "  prince  of  the  senate,"  but  "  prince  of  the  Roman  citizens." 
The  Empire  as  constituted  by  Augustus  is  often  called  the 
Principate,  as  opposed  to  the  absolute  monarchy  into  which  it 
developed  at  a  later  stage,  f  The  Principate  is  in  fact  a  stage  of 
the  Empire;  and  it  might  be  said  that  while  Augustus  founded 
the  Principate,  Julius  was  the  true  founder  of  the  Empire. 

§  3.  According  to  constitutional  theory,  the  state  was  still 
governed  under  the  Piincipate  by  the  senate  and  the  people.  The 
people  delegated  most  of  its  functions  to  one  man,  so  that  the 
government  was  divided  between  the  senate  and  the  man  who 
represented  the  people.  In  the  course  of  time  the  republican  forms 
of  the  constitution  and  the  magisterial  character  of  the  Emperor 
gradually  disappeared ;  but  at  first  they  were  clearly  marked  and 
strictly  maintained.  The  senate  possessed  some  real  power; 
assemblies  of  the  people  were  held ;  consuls,  praetors,  tribunes,  and 
the  other  magistrates  were  elected  as  usual.  The  Principate  was 
not  formally  a  monarchy,  but  rather  a  "  dyarchy,"  as  German  writers 
have  callid  it;  the  Princeps  and  the  senate  together  ruled  the 
state.  But  the  fellowship  was  an  unequal  one,  for  the  Emperor, 
as  supreme  commander  of  the  armies,  had  the  actual  power.  The 
dyarchy  is  a  transparent  fiction.  The  chief  feature  of  the  constitu- 
tional history  of  the  first  three  centuries  of  the  Empire  is  the 
decline  of  the  authority  of  the  senate  and  the  corresponding  growth 
of  the  powers  of  the  Princeps,  until  finally  he  becomes  an  absolute 
monarch.  When  this  comes  to  pass,  the  Empire  can  no  longer 
be  described  as  the  Principate. 


*  Cp.  Horace.  Odes,  i.  2.  50  :  Hie  ames 
dici  pater  atque  princeps.  In  the  Eastern 
provinces,  princeps  was  translated  by 
^ye/xwi/.  But  the.  Emperor  «as  c<  m- 
monly  called  pewtAevs  a  title  which 
finally  became  restricted  to  Roman  Em- 
perors and  Persian  kings.  Augustus 
was  rendered  In  Greek  by  2ej3aor6s. 


f  Ovid,  in  a  well-known  line,  distin- 
guishes the  Princeps  from  the  Rex  (ffcwtt, 
2,  142):  "tu  (Romulus)  domini  nomen, 
principis  ille  (Augustus)  tenet." 
Augustus  disliked  to  be  addressed  as 
d-minus.  On  the  title  Princeps,  see  Note 
C.  at  end  of  chapter. 


16  THE  PBINCIPATB.  CHAP,  it 

The  Princeps  was  a  magistrate.  His  powers  were  entrusted  to 
him  by  the  people,  and  his  position  was  based  on  the  sovranty  of 
the  people.  Like  any  other  citizen  he  was  bound  by  the  laws,  and  if 
for  any  purpose  he  needed  a  dispensation  from  any  law,  he  had  to 
receive  such  dispensation  from  the  senate.  He  could  not  be  the  ob- 
ject of  a  criminal  prosecution ;  this,  however,  was  no  special  privilege, 
but  merely  an  application  of  the  general  rule  that  no  magistrate, 
while  he  is  in  office,  can  be  called  to  account  by  any  one  except  a 
superior  magistrate.  Hence  the  Princeps,  who  held  office  for  life  and 
had  no  superior,  was  necessarily  exempted  from  criminal  prosecution. 
If,  however,  he  abdicated  or  were  deposed,  he  might  be  tried  in  the 
criminal  courts.  And  as  Roman  Law  permitted  processes  against 
the  dead,  it  often  happened  that  a  Princeps  was  tried  in  the  senate 
after  his  death,  and  his  memory  condemned  to  dishonour,  or  his  acts 
rescinded.  The  heavier  sentence  deprived  him  of  the  honour  of  a 
public  funeral  and  abolished  the  statues  and  monuments  erected  in 
his  name ;  while  the  lighter  sentence  removed  his  name  from  those 
Emperors,  to  whose  acts  the  magistrates  swore  when  they  entered 
on  their  office.  When  a  Princeps  was  not  condemned,  and  when 
his  acts  were  recognised  as  valid,  he  received  the  honour  of 
consecration. 

The  claim  to  consecration  after  death  was  a  significant 
characteristic  of  the  Principate,  derived  from  Caesar  the  Dictator. 
He  had  permitted  himself  to  be  worshipped  as  a  god  during  his  life- 
time ;  and  though  no  building  was  set  apart  for  his  worship,  his 
statue  was  set  up  in  the  temples  of  the  gods,  and  he  had  a  flamen 
of  his  own.  After  his  death  he  was  numbered,  by  a  decree  of  the 
senate  and  Roman  people,  among  the  gods  of  the  Roman  state, 
under  the  name  of  divus  Julius.  His  adopted  son  did  not  venture 
to  accept  divine  worship  at  Rome  during  his  lifetime ;  *  he  was 
content  to  be  the  son  of  a  god,  divifilius,  and  to  receive  the  name 
Augustus,  which  implied  a  certain  consecration.  But  like  Romulus, 
to  whom  he  was  fond  of  comparing  himself,  he  was  elevated  to  the 
rank  of  the  gods  after  his  death.  It  is  worth  observing  how 
Augustus  softened  down  the  bolder  designs  of  Cassar  in  this  as 
in  other  respects.  Caesar  would  have  restored  royalty  without 
disguise ;  Augustus  substituted  the  princeps  for  the  rex.  In 
Rome,  Caesar  was  a  god  during  his  lifetime  ;  Augustus  the  son  of 
a  god  when  he  lived,  a  god  only  after  death. 

*  The  genius  Augusti  was  worshipped     did  not  scruple  to  speak  of  Augustus  as  a 

god.    Thus  Horace  writes  (Odes,  iii.  5. 2) : 


at  street  altars  in  Rome,  and  he  was  as- 
sociated with  the  Lares ;  cp.  Horace, 
Odes,  iv.  5.  34 :  Et  Laribns  tuum  miscet 
numen.  See  above,  Chap.  I.  $  4,  as  to 
the  Carmen  Saliare,  Contemporary  poets 


Praesens  divus  habebitur  Augustus ;  and 
in  another  place  (Epist.,  ii.  1.  16)  speaks 
of  the  divine  honours  offered  to  him: 
Present!  tibi  mature*  largimur  honores. 


23  B.O.  THE   PRINCEPS  A  MAGISTRATE.  17 

In  one  important  respect  the  Principate  differed  from  other 
magistracies.  There  was  no  such  thing  as  designation.  The 
successor  to  the  post  could  not  be  appointed  until  the  post  was 
vacant.  Hence  it  follows  that,  on  the  death  of  an  Emperor,  the 
Empire  ceased  to  exist  until  the  election  of  his  successor;  the 
republic  was  in  the  hands  of  the  senate  and  the  people  during  the 
interim,  and  the  initiative  devolved  upon  the  consuls.  The 
principle  "  The  king  is  dead,  long  live  the  king,"  had  no  applica- 
tion in  the  Eoman  Empire. 

As  a  magistracy,  the  Principate  was  elective  and  not  hereditary. 
It  might  be  conferred  on  any  citizen  by  the  will  of  the  sovran 
people;  and  even  women  and  children  were  not  disqualified  by 
their  sex  and  age,  as  in  the  case  of  other  magistracies.  Two,  or 
rather  three,  acts  were  necessary  for  the  creation  of  the  Princeps. 
He  first  received  the  proconsular  imperium  and  along  with  it  the 
name  Augustus ;  subsequently  the  tribunician  power ;  and  also 
other  rights  defined  by  the  special  Law  de  imperio.  But  it  must  be 
clearly  understood,  that  his  position  as  Princeps  really  depended  upon 
the  proconsular  imperium,  which  gave  him  exclusive  command 
of  all  the  soldiers  of  the  state.  Once  he  receives  it,  he  is  Emperor ; 
the  acquisition  of  the  tribunician  power  is  a  consequence  of  the 
acquisition  of  the  supreme  power,  but  is  not  the  supreme  power 
itself.  The  day  on  which  the  imperium  is  conferred  (dies  imperil) 
marks  the  beginning  of  a  new  reign. 

It  is  important  to  observe  how  the  proconsular  power  was 
conferred  on  the  Princeps.  It  was,  theoretically,  delegated  by  th« 
sovran  people,  but  was  never  bestowed  or  confirmed  by  the  people 
meeting  in  the  comitia.  It  was  always  conferred  by  the  senate, 
which  was  supposed  to  act  for  the  people.*  When  the  title  Im- 
perator  was  first  conferred  by  the  soldiers,  it  required  the  formal 
confirmation  of  the  senate,  and  until  the  confirmation  took  place 
the  candidate  selected  by  the  soldiers  was  a  usurper.  On  the 
other  hand  the  Imperator  named  by  the  senate,  although  legitimate, 
had  no  chance  of  maintaining  his  position  unless  he  were  also  recog- 
nised by  the  soldiers. 

The  position  of  the  new  Princeps  was  fully  established  when 
he  was  acknowledged  by  both  the  senate  and  the  army.  After 
Augustus,  the  proconsular  power  of  the  Princeps  was  perpetual, 
and  it  was  free  from  annuity  in  any  form. 

The  tribunician  power,  on  the  other  hand,  was  conferred  by  the 
people  meeting  in  comitia.  It  properly  required  two  separate 
legal  acts — a  special  law  defining  the  powers  to  be  conferred,  and 
an  election  of  the  person  on  whom  they  should  be  conferred.  But 

*  See  Note  E.  at  end  of  chapter. 


i«  THE  PRINCIPATE.  CHAP.  n. 

these  acts  were  combined  in  one;  and  a  magistrate,  probab'y  one 
of  the  consuls,  brought  a  rogation  before  the  comiti-a,  both  defining 
the  powers  and  nominating  the  person.  The  bill  of  course  had 
to  come  before  the  senate  first,  and  an  interval  known  as  the 
trinum  nundinum  elapsed  between  the  decree  of  the  sena'e  and 
the  comitia.  Hence  under  the  earlier  Principate,  when  such  forms 
were  still  observed,  the  assumption  of  the  tribunician  power  takes 
place  some  time  after  the  dies  imperil.  The  tnbunirian  power  was 
conferred  for  perpetuity,  but  was  formally  assumed  anew  every 
year,  so  that  the  Princeps  use<l  to  count  the  years  of  his  reign  as 
the  years  of  his  tribunician  power.* 

But  though  the  Empire  was  thus  elective,  in  reality  the  choice 
of  the  new  Princeps  depended  on  the  senate  or  the  army  only  in 
the  case  of  revolutions.  In  settled  times  the  Kmi  erors  chose  their 
successors,  and  in  their  own  lifetime  caused  the  objects  of  their 
choice  to  be  invested  with  some  of  the  marks  or  functions  of 
imperial  dignity.  It  was  but  natural  that  each  Emperor  should 
try  to  secure  the  continuance  of  the  Empire  in  his  own  family. 
If  he  had  a  son,  he  was  sure  to  choose  him  as  successor ;  if  only 
a  daughter,  her  husband  or  one  of  her  children.  If  he  had  neither 
son  nor  daughter  of  his  own,  he  usually  adopted  a  near  kinsman. 
Thus  the  Empire,  though  always  theoretically  elective,  practically 
tended  to  become  hereditary ;  and  it  came  to  be  recognised  that 
near  kinship  to  an  Emperor  founded  a  reasonable  claim  to  the 
succession.  This  feature  was  present  from  the  very  outset;  for  the 
founder  of  the  Empire  himself  had  first  assumed  his  place  on  the 
political  stage  as  the  son  and  heir  of  Julius,  and  no  one  was  more 
determined  or  strove  harder  to  found  a  d\  nasty  than  Augustus. 

§  4.  Augustus  assumed  other  functions  and  titles  (as  well  as  the 
proconsular  imperium  and  the  tribunician  potestas),  but  they  had  no 
place  in  the  theory  of  the  imperial  constitution.  He  was  named  by 
the  "senate,  the  knights  and  the  people,"  pater  patrise  (2  B.C.),  and 
subsequent  Emperors  regularly  received  this  titli'.f  He  was  elected 
Pontifex  Maximus  by  the  people  in  12  B.C.  (March  6)  after  the 
death  of  Lepidus,  who  had  been  allowed  to  retain  that  office 
when  he  was  deprived  of  his  triumviral  power.  Henceforward 
the  Chief  Pontificate  was  always  held  by  the  Emperors,  and  formed 


*  The  tribunician  year  of  the  Republic 
began  on  the  10th  December  ;  but  the 
imperial  tribunician  year  counted  from  the 
day  on  which  it  w»s  bestowed,  until  the 
end  of  the  first  century  A.D.,  w  hen  th^  old 
republican  practice  was  introduced.  The 
ordina  y  system  of  dating  the  year  by  the 


consuls  (from  Jan.  1)  was  so  much  more  I  the  title  to  .ilomulus 


practical  that  it  continued  in  general  use. 
f  This  title  was  first  given  to  Cicero  in 
the  senate  by  Catulus.  Cp.  Juvenal,  viii. 
244  :  Koma  patrem  patria?  Ciceronem  libera 
duxit.  But  there  is  no  historical  con- 
nection between  the  imperial  title  and  the 
compliment  paid  to  Cicero.  Livy  ascribe 


23  B.C.    THE  PBINCEP8  HAS  NOT  CENSORIAL  FOWEK.    19 

one  of  their  standing  titles.  Augustus  also  belonged  to  other 
religious  colleges.  He  was  not  only  Pontifex;  he  was  also  a 
septemvir,  a  quindecimvir  and  an  augur ;  he  was  enrolled  among 
the  Petioles,  the  Arvales  and  the  Titii* 

Augustus  was  not  a  censor,  nor  did  he,  as  Emperor,  possess  the 
powers  of  the  censor's  office,  although  he  sometimes  temporarily 
assumed  them.  The  re-ison  why  he  refrained  from  assuming 
these  powers  permanently  is  obvious.  It  was  his  aim  to  preserve 
the  form  of  a  republic  ami  to  maintain  the  senate  as  an  indei  en- 
dent  ^ody.  One  of  the  chief  functions  of  the  censors  was  to  revise 
the  list  of  senators ;  they  had  the  power  of  expunging  members 
from  that  body  and  electing  new  ones.  It  is  clear  that  if  the 
Emperor  possessed  the  rights  of  a  censor,  he  would  have  direct 
control  over  the  senate,  and  it  would  no  longer  be  even  nominally 
independent. 

In  28  B.C.,  as  we  have  seen,  Augustus  and  Agrippa  held  a  census 
as  consuls,  by  virtue  of  the  censorial  power  which  originally  belonged 
to  the  consular  office.  And  on  the  two  subsequent  occasions  on 
which  Augustus  htld  a  census,  once  by  himself  (8  B.C.)  and  once 
in  conjunction  with  Tibeiius  (14  A.T>.),  he  did  not  assume  the  title 
of  censor,  but  caused  consular  power  to  be  conferred  on  him  tempo- 
rarily by  the  senate.  In  22  B.C.  the  people  proposed  to  bestow  on 
Augustus  the  censorship  for  life,  but  he  refined  the  offer,  and  caused 
Paullus  jEmilius  Lepidus  and  Munatius  Plancus  to  be  appointed 
censors.  This  was  the  last  occasion  on  which  two  private  citizens 
were  colleagues  in  that  office.  Three  times  f  it  was  proposed  to 
Augustus  to  undertake  as  a  perpetual  office  "the  regulation  of 
laws  and  manners  "  (morum  legumque  regimen),  but  he  invariably 
refus<d.  Such  an  institution  would  have  been  as  openly  subversive 
of  republican  government  as  royalty  or  the  dictatorship.  Neverthe- 
less some  of  the  functions  of  the  censor,  and  especially  the  census 
eqnitum,  seem  from  the  very  first  to  have  fallen  within  the 
competence  of  the  Pi  inceps. 

It  should  be  specia  ly  observed  that  the  Princeps  did  not  possess 
consular  power,  as  is  sometimes  erroneously  stated.  Occasionally 
it  was  decreed  to  him  temporarily  for  a  special  purpose,  but  it  did 
not  belong  to  him  as  Princeps.  % 

§  5.  While  the  Emperor  avoided  the  names  rex  and  dictator,  he 
distinguished  himseif  from  ordinary  citizens  by  a  peculiar 
arrangement  of  his  personal  name.  (1)  All  the  Emperors  from 
Augustus  to  Hadrian,  with  three  exceptions,  §  dropped  the  name  oi 

*  These  lesser  offices  do  not  appear  in  I      J  See  Note  B.  at  end  of  chapter, 
his  titles.  $  Claudius,  Nero,  and  Vitellius, 

f  19, 18,  and  11  B.C. 


20  THE   PBINCIPATE.  CHAP.  n. 

their  gens.  (2)  They  never  designated  the  tribe  to  which  they 
belonged.  (3)  Most  of  them  adopted  the  title  Imperator  as  a 
prsenomen.  This  designation  had  been  first  used  as  a  constant 
title  by  Csesar  the  Dictator,  being  placed  immediately  after  his  name 
and  preceding  all  other  titles.  Thus  it  might  have  been  regarded 
as  a  second  cognomen ;  and  the  younger  C&ssar  claimed  it  as  part  of 
his  father's  name,  and,  to  make  this  clear,  adopted  it  as  a  praenomen 
instead  of  his  own  prsenomen  Grains. 

All  the  agnate  descendants  of  the  dictator  bore  the  name  Caesar, 
which  was  a  cognomen  of  the  Julian  gens.  But  when  the  house  of 
the  Julian  Caesars  came  to  an  end  on  the  death  of  the  Emperor 
Gaius,  his  successor  Claudius  assumed  the  cognomen  Csesar,  and  this 
example  was  followed  by  subsequent  dynasties.  Thus  Csesar  came 
to  be  a  conventional  cognomen  of  the  Emperor  and  his  house. 

Augustus  was  a  title  of  honour ;  it  did  not,  like  imperator  or 
consul,  imply  an  office,  and  hence  an  Emperor's  wife  could  receive 
the  title  Augusta.  But  it  was  not,  like  Caesar,  hereditary ;  it  had 
to  be  conferred  by  the  senate  or  people.  At  the  same  time  it 
was  distinctly  a  cognomen ;  and  it  has  clung  specially  to  him  who 
first  bore  it  as  a  personal  name.  It  was  always  assumed  by  his 
successors  along  with  the  actual  power ;  and  it  seemed  to  express 
that,  while  the  various  parts  of  the  Emperor's  power  were  in  their 
nature  collegial,  there  could  yet  only  be  one  Emperor. 

In  much  later  times  Augustus  and  Csesar  were  distinguished  as 
greater  and  lesser  titles.  The  Emperor  bore  the  name  Augustus ; 
while  he  whom  the  Emperor  chose  to  succeed  to  the  throne  was 
a  Cassar.  Moreover,  there  might  be  more  than  one  Augustus,  and 
more  than  one  Caesar. 

We  must  carefully  distinguish  two  different  uses  of  Imperator  in 
the  titulary  style  of  the  Emperors.  (1)  As  a  designation  of  the 
proconsular  imperium,  it  was  placed,  as  we  have  already  seen, 
before  the  name  as  a  pramomen.  (2)  Imp.  with  a  number, 
standing  among  the  titles  after  the  name,  meant  that  he  had  been 
greeted  as  imperator  so  many  times  by  the  soldiers  in  consequence 
of  victories.  Yet  the  two  uses  were  regarded  as  closely  connected. 
For  the  investiture  with  the  proconsular  imperium  was  regarded  as 
the  first  acquisition  of  the  name  Imperator,  so  that  on  the  first 
victory  after  his  accession  the  Emperor  designated  himself  as 
imperator  ii. 

The  order  of  names  in  the  imperial  style  is  worthy  of  notice.*  In 
the  case  of  the  early  Emperors,  Caesar  comes  after  the  name ;  for 


*  The  full  title  of  Augustus  in  the  last 
year  of  his  reign  (14  A.u.)was  as  follows: 
lap.  C«WM  Dirt  F(iliue)  Augustus, 


Pontif.  Max.,  Cos.  xiii.,  Imp.  xx., 
Tribunic.  Potestat.  xxxvii.,  P(ater) 
P(atrie). 


27  B.C.-H  A.D.     IMPERIAL  TITLES  AND  INSIGNIA.         21 


example,  Imp.  Nero  Claudius  Caesar  Augustus.  With  Vespasian 
begins  a  new  style,  in  which  Caesar  generally  precedes  the  propel 
cognomen;  thus,  Imp.  Caesar  Vespasianus  Augustus.  Augustus 
retained  its  place  at  the  end. 

§  6.  The  Princeps  had  the  right  of  appearing  publicly  at  all 
seasons  in  the  purple-edged  tosa  of  a  magistrate.  On  the  occasion 
of  solemn  festivals,  he  used  to  wear  the  purple  gold-broidered  toga, 
which  was  worn  by  victorious  generals  in  triumphal  procession. 
And  although  in  Italy  he  did  not  possess  the  imperium  militia,  he 
had  the  right  to  wear  the  purple  paludamentum  (purpura)  of  the 
Imperator  even  in  Home,  but  this  was  a  privilege  of  which  early 
Emperors  seldom  availed  themselves.  The  distinctive  headdress 
of  the  Princeps  was  a  laurel  wreath.  As  Imperator  he  wore  the 
sword;  but  the  sceptre  only  in  triumphal  processions.  Both  in 
the  senate-house  and  elsewhere,  he  sat  on  a  sella  curulis ;  and  he 
was  attended  by  twelve  lictors,  like  the  other  chief  magistrates. 
His  safety  was  provided  for  by  a  bodyguard,  generally  consisting 
of  German  soldi*  rs;  and  one  cohort  of  the  praetorian  guards  was 
constantly  stationed  at  his  palace. 

Under  the  Republic  the  formula  of  public  oaths  was  couched  in 
the  name  of  Jupiter  and  the  Penates  of  the  Roman  people.  Caesar 
the  Dictator  added  his  own  genius,  and  this  fashion  was  followed 
under  the  Principate.  The  oath  was  framed  in  the  name  of 
Jupiter,  those  Emperors  who  had  become  divine  after  death, 
the  genius  of  the  reigning  Emperor,*  and  the  Penates.  The  Princeps 
also  had  the  privilege  of  being;  included  in  the  vota  or  prayers  for 
the  welfare  of  the  state,  which  it  was  customary  to  offer  up  in  the 
first  month  of  every  year.f  And  it  was  regarded  as  treason  to 
encroach  on  either  of  these  privileges — to  swear  by  the  genius,  or 
offer  public  vows  for  the  safety,  of  any  other  than  the  Emperor. 
After  the  battle  of  Actium,  the  birthday  of  Augustus  had  been 
elevated  to  a  public  feast;  and  hence  it  became  the  custom  to 
celebrate  publicly  the  birthday  of  every  reigning  Emperor,  and  also 
the  day  of  his  accession. 

Like  other  men  of  distinction,  the  Princeps  gave  morning 
receptions,  which,  however,  differed  from  those  of  private  persons, 
in  that  every  person  who  wished,  provided  he  was  of  sufficiently 
high  rank,  was  admitted.  It  was  part  of  the  policy  of  Augustus  to 
treat  men  of  his  own  rank  as  peers,  and  in  social  intercourse  to 


*  For  example,  an  oath  in  the  reign  of 
Domitian  runs  thus :  per  Jovem  et  divom 
Augustum  et  divom  Claudium  et  divom 
Vetpasianum  Augustum  et  divom  Titum 
Augustum  et  genium  imp.  Ceesarii  Do- 


mitiani  Augusti  deosque  Penatts.    The 
Greek  word  corresponding  to  genius  is 


f  The  day  was  finally  fixed  as  January  % 


22  THE  FBIKCIPATB.  CHAP.  n. 

behave  merely  as  an  aristocrat  among  fellow-aristocrats.  There 
was  formally  no  such  thing  as  court  etiquette,  and  the  Emperor's 
Palatium  was  merely  a  private  house.  But  the  political  difference 
which  set  the  Princeps  above  all  his  fellow- citizens  could  not  fail 
to  have  its  social  consequences,  however  much  Augustus  wished  to 
seem  a  peer  among  peers.  Those  persons,  whom  Augustus 
admitted  to  the  honour  of  his  friendship — and  they  belonged 
chiefly  to  the  senatorial,  in  a  few  cases  to  the  equestrian  ranks- 
came  to  form  a  distinct,  though  not  officially  recognised,  body 
under  the  name  amid  Ccesaris,  "friends  of  Caesar."  Prom  this 
circle  he  selected  his  comites  or  "  companions,"  the  retinue  which 
accompanied  him  when  he  travelled  in  the  provinces.  The  amid 
were  expected  to  attend  the  morning  receptions,  and  were  greeted 
with  a  kiss.  They  wore  a  ring  with  the  image  of  the  Emperor. 
They  were  received  in  some  order  of  precedence;  and  gradually 
they  came  to  be  divided  into  classes,  according  to  their  intimacy 
with  the  Emperor  ;  and  admission  into  the  circle  of  amici  became 
a  formal  act.  To  lose  the  position  of  a  "  friend  "  of  Caesar  entailed 
consequences  equivalent  to  exile.  Invitations  to  dine  with  the 
Emperor  were  also  probably  limited  to  the  amid.  Thus  at  the  very 
beginning  of  the  Principate  there  were  the  elements  of  the  elaborate 
system  of  court  ceremonial  which  was  developed  in  later  centuries. 
The  position  of  the  comites  was  more  definitely  marked  out.  They 
received  allowances,  and  had  special  quarters  in  the  camp.  They 
had  also  precedence  over  provincial  governors.  The  distinction  of 
having  been  a  comes  of  Caesar  is  often  mentioned  on  inscriptions 
among  official  honours. 

It  was  not  lawful  under  the  free  commonwealth  to  set  up  in  any 
public  place  the  image  of  a  living  man.  The  image  of  the  Princeps 
might  be  set  up  anywhere ;  and  there  were  two  cases  in  which  it 
was  obligatory  that  it  should  appear,  namely  hi  military  shrines, 
along  with  the  eagle  and  the  standards,  and  on  coins.  Sometimes 
it  appeared  on  the  standards  themselves.  In  regard  to  coinage, 
Augustus  held  fast  the  royal  privilege  which  had  been  accorded 
by  the  senate  to  Caesar  (in  44  B.C.);  and  the  right  of  being  re- 
presented on  the  money  of  the  realm  was  exclusively  reserved  for 
the  Emperor,  or  those  members  of  the  imperial  house  on  whom  he 
might  choose  to  confer  it. 


,  u. 


1LLUSTKATIONS. 


NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


A.— THE  RESIGNATION  OF  THE 
TRIUMVIRATE. 

If  we  had  not  the  statement  of  Augus- 
tus himself  (in  the  words  quoted  in  note, 
p.  10),  we  should  have  supposed,  from  the 
statements  of  other  writers,  that  the 
surrender  of  all  his  extraordinary  powers 
took  place  on  Jan.  13,  B.C.  27.  But  as  he 
expressly  says,  "  in  my  sixth  and  seventh 
consulships,"  the  act  of  27  B.C.  can  have 
only  been  partial,  and  must  have  been 
preceded  by  another  act  of  partial  sur- 
render in  28  B.C.  Herzog  seems  to  think 
that  in  mentioning  his  sixth  consulship 
Augustus  is  only  thinking  of  his  revival 
of  the  form  of  exchanging  fasces  with  the 
other  consul.  It  might  also  be  suggested 
that  he  meant  the  annulling  of  the 
arbitrary  acts  of  the  triumvirate.  Momm- 
sen  discusses  the  question  in  his  edition  of 
the  Res  Gestae,  and  calls  attention  (p.  149) 
to  the  evidence  of  a  coin  (Eckhel,  6,  83) 
that  Augustus  had  begun  the  restoration 
of  the  provinces  (had  actually  restored 
Asia)  to  the  senate  in  28  B.C.  Perhaps 
this  fact  is  sufficient  to  explain  the 
Emperor's  language.  But  one  might 
venture  to  conjecture  that  in  28  B.C. 
Augustus  resigned  the  constitutive 
powers  which  belonged  to  him  as  trium- 
vir—this act  might  have  been  marked, 
among  other  things,  by  the  exchange 
of  the  fasces — but  retained  the  procon- 
sular imperium  ;  and  that  the  act  of  27 
B.C.  was  the  surrender  of  that  imperium 
only.  The  formal  statement  of  Augustus 
seems  to  imply  two  definite  acts. 

B.— THE  FIRST  CONSTITUTION  OF 
THE  PRINCIPATE  (27-23  B.C.). 

The  question  arises,  of  what  elements 
did  the  Principate  consist  in  its  first  pre- 
liminary stage  between  27  and  23  B.C.? 
It  is  generally  agreed  that  the  proconsular 
imperium  was  the  most  important  element 
then  as  later.  We  know  also  that  the 
consulate  played  a  chief  part  in  the  con- 
stitutional position  of  Augustus  at  this 
time;  for,  besides  the  fact  of  the  iteration 
of  the  consulate  each  year,  we  have  the 
express  testimony  of  Tacitus  (Annals, 
1,  2:  posito  triumviri  nomine  consuUm  se 
/«raw).  But  it  is  not  clear  whether  he 


based  his  civil  position  on  the  consulate 
alone.  For  it  is  conceivable  that  in  these 
years  too  he  may  have  made  constitu- 
tional use  of  the  tribunicia  potestas, 
though  not  in  the  same  measure  in  wl.ich 
he  alterwards  used  it.  Again,  it  is  un- 
known w  hether  he  interpreted  the  power 
which  he  possessed  as  consul  in  the 
sense  of  the  early  Republic,  as  involving 
censorial  power,  or  in  the  sense  of  the 
later  Republic  as  not  involving  it.  Thus 
there  are  several  conceivable  alternatives. 
The  Principate,  as  constitutt  d  in  27  B.C., 
may  have  been  based  on 

(1).  The  proconsular  imperium,  and 
consulate. 

(2).  The  proconsular  imperium,  and 
consulate,  and  censorial  power. 

(3).  The  proconsular  imperium,  and 
consulate  and  tribunician  power. 

(4).  The  proconsular  imperium,  and 
consulate,  and  censorial  power,  and 
tribunician  power- 

If  Augustus  adopted  either  (2)  or  (4), 
he  must  have  afterwards,  by  23  B.C.,  seen 
that  the  assumption  of  censorial  power 
made  the  formally  independ-nt  position 
of  the  senate  illusory,  and  accordingly 
abandoned  it.  On  the  whole  it  seems 
probable  that  he  did  not  claim  censorial 
power  in  these  years,  and  that  the  trib. 
pot.  was  kept  quite  in  the  background. 
(See  note  at  end  of  Chap.  I.) 

It  is  not  superfluous  to  point  out  the 
old  error — re  uted  by  Mommsen  and 
now  generally  abandoned — that  Augustus 
possessed  the  potestas  consular**  for  life, 
and  that  this  was  an  integral  part  of  the 
Principate.  This  mistake  was  due  to 
Dion  Cassius  (liv.  10),  who  probably  mis- 
int'Toreted  a  decree  wi.ich  granted  to 
Augustus  the  right  of  wearing  ihe  consu- 
lar insignia,  a  totally  different  matter. 
Or  the  expression  "  consular  power  "  may 
have  been  used  by  him  to  designate  cer- 
tain consular  powers,  which  had  l>een 
specially  granted  to  Augustus,  as  the 
ius  edicendi,  the  right  of  convening  the 
senate,  &c.  The  silence  ot  the  Monnmen- 
tum  Ancyranum,  us  Mommsen  has  pointed 
out,  is  conclusive,  and  no  later  Emperor 
ever  claimed  the  potestas  c<wsula,'  is. 

The  account  given  in  this  chapter  of  the 
Constitution  of  the  Principate  rests  mainly 


24 


NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


CHAP.  n. 


on  the  exposition  in  Mommsen's  Stnatt- 
recht  (vol.  ii.),  but  with  some  modifica- 
tions. The  views  of  Herzog  (Geschichte 
und  System  der  romischen  Staatsver- 
fassung,  vol.  ii.)  have  been  carefully 
studied.  A  somewhat  different,  and  per- 
haps simpler,  reconstruction  of  the  first 
form  of  the  Principate  has  been  expounded 
by  Mr.  H.  F.  Pelham  (Journal  of  Philo- 
logy, xvii.,  and  article  PRINCEPS  in  Smith's 
Diet,  of  Greek  and  Roman  Antiq.\  and 
must  be  set  forth  in  his  own  words : 

In  January  27  B.C.,  "by  a  vote  of  the 
senate  and  people,  he  (Caesar)  was  legally 
reinvested  with  the  essential  elements 
of  his  tormer  authority.  He  was  given  a 
command,  limited  indeed  both  in  area  and 
duration,  but  which  yet  in  both  points 
was  unprecedentedly  wide.  .  .  .  But  had 
Octavian  rested  content  with  this  '  consu- 
lare  imperium'  alone,  he  would  have 
been  merely  a  powerful  proconsul.  .  .  . 
He  would  have  been  only  the  equal  and 
not  the  superior  of  the  proconsular  gover- 
nors of  the  provinces  not  included  within 
the  area  of  his  own  imperium.  Nor  could 
the  old  difficulties  arising  from  the  separa- 
tion between  the  chief  military  command 
abroad,  and  the  highest  magistracies  at 
home,  have  failed  to  reappear.  These 
disadvantages  and  difficulties  Octavian 
escaped  by  retaining  the  consulship  and 
wielding  his  imperium  as  consul.  .  .  . 
It  was  a  return,  in  a  sense,  to  the  practice 
ot  the  early  republic,  when  the  consuls 
were  at  once  the  highest  civil  and  the 
highest  military  authorities  of  the  state." 
According  to  this  view,  the  Principate 
was,  in  its  first  form,  based  entirely  on 
the  consulship.  As  to  the  arrangement 
of  23  B.C.,  Mr.  Pelhanu  proceeds : 

"  But  in  B.C.  23  a  change  was  made 
which  gave  to  the  principate  a  some- 
what different  shape.  ...  On  June  27  in 
that  year,  Augustus  laid  down  the  consul- 
ship  His  'consulare  imperium,' 

with  its  wide  province,  he  still  retained, 
but  he  now  held  it  only  pro-consule ;  and 
it  therefore  ceased  at  once  to  be  valid  in 
Rome  and  Italy,  i.e.  within  the  sphere 
assigned  to  the  actual  consuls.  He  further 
lost  both  the  precedence  (mains  impe- 
rium)  over  all  other  magistrates  and  pro- 
magistrates  which  a  consul  enjoyed,  and 
the  various  rights  in  connection  with 
senate  and  assembly  attached  to  the  con- 
sulship. He  had,  lastly,  no  further  claim 
to  the  consular  dignity  and  insignia.' 
These  losses  were  made  good  by  a  number 


of  special  measures;  but  unwilling  to 
rest  his  position  in  Rome  on  the  pro- 
consular imperium,  Augustus  "brought 
forward  into  special  prominence  his  tri- 
bunicia  potestas.  .  .  .  As  if  to  conceal  the 
startling  fact,  that  there  was  now  in 
Rome,  by  the  side  of  the  annual  consuls, 
a  holder  of  consular  imperium,  fully  their 
equal  in  rank  and  power  at  home,  and 
vested  besides  with  a  wide  command 
abroad,  the  tribunicia  potestas  was  put 
forward  as  the  outward  sign  and  symbol 
at  least  in  Rome,  of  the  pre-eminence  of 
the  princeps." 

0.— THE  ORIGIN  OF  THE  TITLE 
PRINCEPS. 

It  used  to  be  thought  that  Princeps,  as 
a  name  of  the  Emperor,  meant  princeps 
senatus.  This  view  is  now  generally 
abandoned.  It  was  shown  very  clearly 
by  Mr.  H.  F.  Pelham  (Journal  of  Phi- 
lology, viii.  323)  that  Princeps  stands  for 
Princeps  Civitatis,  a  term  whicn  was 
applied  by  Cicero  to  Pompey.  Princeps 
alone,  was  also  applied  by  Cicero  both  to 
Pompey  and  to  Cassar  (cp.  adAtt.,  8.  9.  4, 
and  ad  Fam.,  6.  6.  5),  and  by  Sallust  to 
Pompey.  This  view  is  held  by  both 
Mommsen  and  Schiller. 

Herzog,  however  (Cksch.  u.  Syst.  der 
rom.  Staatsv.,  ii.  134),  thinks  that  the 
imperial  title  princeps  was  originally 
derived  from  the  formal  title  princeps 
senatus  and  gradually  gained  a  wider 
sense.  He  compares  the  extension  of  the 
term  princeps  iuventutis,  which  from 
meaning  merely  the  foremost  of  the 
knights  came  to  have  the  secondary 
meaning  of  the  "heir  apparent"  (for 
which  see  below,  Chap.  IV.  $  6). 

D.— THE  LEX  DE  IMPERIO. 

There  is  extant  on  a  large  bronze 
tablet,  which  Cola  di  Rienri  caused  to  be 
fixed  up  in  the  Church  of  St.  John  in  the 
Lateran,  part  of  a  law  conferring  upon 
Vespasian  certain  sovran  rights,  which 
had  been  before  conferred  upon  his  pre- 
cessors.  The  statute  was  evidently 
drawn  up  according  to  a  fixed  formula, 
and  is  clearly  an  embodiment  of  the 
special  measures  wMch  were  passed  in 
favour  of  Augustus  in  23  B.C.  and  follow- 
ing years.  This  law  is  designated  by 
jurists  as  the  lex  de  imperio  or  the  lex  regia. 
Mommsen  identifies  it  with  the  lex  which 


CHAP.  n. 


NOTES    AND   ILLUSTRATIONS. 


26 


inverted  the  Btaperors  with  the  tribunicia 
potestat,  supposing  that  the  sphere  of  that 
potestas  was  deiined  and  extended  by  a 
number  of  special  clauses.  This  seems 
very  doubtful.  As  Herzog  observes,  it  is 
hardly  conceivable  that  a  jurist  would 
designate  a  law  conferring  trih.  pot. 
(however  amply  extended)  as  a  lex  de 
imperio,  as  imperium  and  tribunician 
potettas  are  legally  quite  distinct  con- 
ceptions. It  seems  far  more  likely  that 
this  lex  vested  the  Princeps  with  a  num- 
ber of  rights  which  were  not  given  by  his 
proconsular  imperium  and  by  his  tri- 
bunician power  (cp.  Herzog,  op.  cit.,  ii. 
617-619;  and  Pelham,  Diet.  Ant.,  ii. 
485). 

The  fragment  of  this  highly  important 
document  (Corp.  Inscr.  I. at.,  vi.  No.  930, 
p  167)  runs  as  follows : 

"foedusve  cum  quibus  volet  face  re 
liceat,  ita  uti  licuit  divo  Aug(ustu), 
Ti(berio)  lulio  Ctesari  Aug(usto 
Tiberioque  Claudio  Csesari  Aug(usto) 
Germanico; 

utique  ei  senatum  habere,  relatio- 
nem  facere,  remittere,  senatus  con- 
sulta  per  relationem  discessionemque 
facere  liceat,  ita  uti  licuit  divo 
Aug(usto),  Ti(berio)  lulio  Csesari 
Aug(usto),  Ti(berio)  Claudio  Csesari 
Angusto  Germanico ; 

utique,  cum  ex  voluntate  auctori- 
tateve  iussu  mandatuve  eius  pra>sen- 
teve  eo  senatus  habebitur,  omnium 
rerum  ius  perinde  habeatur,  servetur, 
ac  si  e  lege  senatus  edictus  esset 
habereturque ; 

utique  quos  magistratum,  potesta- 
tem,  imperium  curationemve  cuius 
rei  petentes  senatni  populoque  Ro- 
mano commendaverit,  quibusue  suf- 
fragationem  suam  dederit,  promi- 
serit,  eoruni  comitis  quibusque  extra 
ordinera  ratio  habeatur ; 

utique  ei  fines  pomerii  proferre, 
promovere,  cum  ex  re  publica  cense- 
bit  esse,  liceat  ita  uti  licuit  Ti(berio) 
Claudio  Caesari  Aug(usto)  Germanico ; 
utique,  qusecumque  ex  usu  reipub- 
licae,  maiestate  divinarum,  huma[na]- 
rum,  publicarum  privatarumque  re- 
rum  esse  censebit,  ei  agere,  facere  ius 
potestasque  Bit,  ita  trti  divo  Aug- 
(twto)  Tiberioque  lulio  Csesari  Aug- 
(usto)  Tiberioque  Claudio  Caesari 
Aug(usto)  Germanico  fuit ; 

utique  quibus  legibus  plebeive 
9dUB  scriptum  fuit  ne  divus  Aug(us- 


tus)  Tiberiusve  lulius  Caesar  Augus- 
tus Tiberiusque  Claudius  Caesar  Aug- 
(ustus)  Gerinanicus  teuerentur,  iis 
legibus  plebisque  scitis  imp(erator) 
(aesar  Vespasianus  solutus  sit, 
quaeque  ex  quaque  lege,  roiatione 
divum  'Aug(ustum)  Tiberiumve  lu- 
lium  Caesarem  Aug(ustum),  Tiber!-* 
umve  Claudium  Cassareui  Aug(us- 
tum)  Germanicum  facere  oportuit,  ea 
omnia  imp(eratori)  Caesari  Vespasiano 
Aug(usto)  facere  liceat ; 

utique  quae  ante  hanc  legem  roga- 
tam  acta,  gesta  decreta  imperata  ab 
imperatore  Caesare  Vespasiano  Aug- 
(usto)  iussu  mandatuve  eius  a  quoque 
sunt,  ea  perinde  iusta  rataq(ue)  sint 
ac  si  populi  plebisve  iussu  act  a 
essent. 

SANCTIO  : 

Si  quis  huiusce  legis  ergo  adversus 
leges  rogationes  plebisve  scita  sena- 
tusve  consulta  fecit,  fecerit,  sive, 
quod  eum  ex  lege  rogatione  plebisve 
scito  s(enatus)ve  c(onsulto)  facere 
oportebit  non  fecerit  buius  legis  ergo, 
id  ei  ne  fraud!  esto  neve  quit  ob 
earn  rem  populo  dare  debeto,  neve 
cui  de  ea  re  actio  neve  iudicatio  esto 
neve  quis  de  ea  re  apud  [s]e  agi  sinito. " 


E.— THE  ELECTION  OF  THE 

PRINCEPS. 

In  stating  that  the  proconsular  im- 
perium was  conferred  exclusively  by 
the  senate,  and  could  not  be  conferred  by 
the  army,  I  have  adopted  the  view  which 
is  well  defended  by  Herzog  (Gesch.  und 
Syst.  der  rom.  Staatsverfassung,  ii.  610, 
s<7.).  Momiusen's  view,  on  the  contrary,  is 
that  the  imperium  could  legitimately 
be  conferred  either  by  the  army  or  by  the 
senate ;  in  fact  that  the  act  merely  con- 
sisted in  the  assumption  of  ihe  title  of 
Imperator  by  any  person  called  upon  to 
assume  it  by  either  the  senate  or  the 
troops ;  the  senate  or  troops  being  sup- 
posed equally  to  represent  the  people, 
and  the  election  by  the  senate  being  merely 
preferred  as  more  convenient  and  condu- 
cive to  the  interests  of  the  commonwealth. 
But  the  evidence  seems  to  show  that  the 
proclamation  as  Imperator  and  the 
assumption  of  that  title  constituted  a 
distinct  act  from  the  acquisition  of  the 
proconsular  imperium.  When  the  sol- 
diers proclaimed  a  commander  Imperator, 


NOTES   AND   ILLUSTRATIONS. 


CHAP.  n. 


be  became  thereby  a  candidate  for  the 
Empire ;  but  he  was  not  an  Emperor,  he 
was  not  a  Princeps,  until  be  received  from 
the  senate  the  proconsular  imperium ; 


and  when  the  proconsular  imperium  was 
granted  the  tribunieian  power  followed  a? 
a  matter  of  course.  (Cp.  Plutarch,  Galba, 
10;  Dion,  63.  25;  Victor,  Gees.  37.) 


Agripp*. 


Head  of  Livia  (from  the  Museum  at  Naples> 

CHAPTEE  III. 

THE   JOINT  GOVERNMENT   OF   THE   PRINCEPS   AND  SENATE. 

1.  The  proconsular  imperium  and  the  tribunician  power.  §  2.  Political 
rights  which  remained  to  the  people.  §  3.  Constitution  of  the. senate. 
Princeps  senatus.  Curator  actorum  sewdus.  Senatorial  committees. 
§  4.  Character  of  the  Dyarchy.  §  5.  Division  ot'  power  between 
Emperor  and  senate:  (1)  administrative,  (2)  judicial,  (3)  in  election 
of  magistrates,  (4)  legislative  (seri'ttusconsulta,  ed>cta,  ucta\  (5)  finan- 
cial (taxes,  coinage).  The  senate  as  an  organ  of  the  government,  for 
publication.  §  6.  Magistracies  under  the  Empire.  §  7.  The  ordo 
equester  as  revised  by  Augustus:  (1)  its  constitution,  (2)  mode  of 
admission,  (3)  tenure  for  life,  (4)  the  equit'tm  probitio,  (5;  military 
organisation,  (6)  privileges  of  knights,  (7)  their  service  as  officers, 
(8)  their  service  on  the  judicial  benches ;  the  four  decvrise  of  indices, 


28  GOVERNMENT  OF  PRINCEPS  AND  SENATE.   CHAP.  ra. 

(9)  division  of  offices   in   the  state   between  knights  and  senators, 

(10)  elevation  of  knights  to  the  senate. 

SECT.  I. — POLITICAL  POSITION  OP  THE  PRINCEPS.    THE  PEOPLE. 

§  1.  IN  the  last  chapter  it  was  shown  how  Augustus  established 
the  Principate,  and  we  became  acquainted  with  the  constitutional 
theory  of  this  new  phase  of  the  Roman  republic,  which  was  really 
.i,  disguised  monarchy.  We  also  learned  the  titles  and  insignia 
which  were  the  outward  marks  of  the  ambiguous  position  of  the 
monarch  who  affected  to  be  a  private  citizen.  It  remains  now  to 
examine  more  closely  his  political  powers,  and  see  how  the  govern- 
ment of  the  state  was  divided  between  the  Princeps  and  the  senate 
according  to  the  system  of  Augustus. 

The  proconsular  imperium  of  the  Emperor  differed  from  that  of 
the  ordinary  proconsul  in  three  ways.  Firstly,  the  entire  armj 
stood  under  the  direct  command  of  the  Emperor.  Secondly,  his 
imperium  was  not  limited  (except  in  the  case  of  Augustus  himself) 
to  a  special  period.  It  was  given  for  life.  And  thirdly,  it  not 
only  extended  directly  over  a  far  larger  space — the  Emperor's 
"  province  "  including  a  multitude  of  important  provinces — than  that 
of  an  ordinary  proconsul,  but  being  mains  or  superior  above  that  of 
all  others,  it  could  be  applied  in  the  senatorial  provinces  which 
they  governed ;  and  thus  it  really  extended  over  the  whole  empire. 
As  a  consequence  ot  his  exclusive  military  command,  it  devolved 
upon  the  Emperor  exclusively  to  pay  the  troops,  to  appoint  officers, 
to  release  soldiers  from  service.*  The  soldiers  took  the  military 
oath  of  obedience  to  him.  He  alone  possessed  the  right  of  levying 
troops,  and  anyone  who  levied  troops  without  an  imperial  com- 
mand, committed  an  act  of  treason.  He  granted  all  military 
honours  except  triumphs  and  the  triumphal  ornaments.  Moreover, 
while  an  ordinary  proconsul  lost  his  imperium  on  leaving  his 
district,  the  Emperor  lived  in  Rome  without  surrendering  tht 
imperium,  although  Rome  and  Italy  were  excepted  from  its 
operation.  The  Emperor  possessed  also  supreme  command  at  sea, 
and  had  the  prsetorian  guards,  formed  of  Italian  volunteers,  at  his 
disposal,  as  a  stationary  garrison  at  Rome.  In  connection  with  the 
proconsular  power  is  the  sovran  right  which  the  Emperor  possessed 
of  making  war  and  peace ;  but  this  was  probably  conferred  upon 
Augustus  by  a  special  enactment,  and  was  afterwards  one  of  the 
prerogatives  defined  by  the  Lex  de  imperio. 

The  rights  which  the  Princeps  derived  from  the  tribunician 
power,  as  such,  were  as  follows  :  (1)  He  had  the  right  to  preside  on 

*  Hence  veterans  were  called  in  later  times  vettrani  Augiuti. 


CHAP.  in.   THE  COMITIA   UNDER  THE   EMPIRE,  29 

the  bench  of  the  tribunes  of  the  people.  (2)  He  had  the  right  ot 
intercession,— which  he  often  practised  against  decrees  of  the 
Senate.  (3)  He  possessed  the  tribunician  coercitio.  His  person 
was  inviolable;  and  not  only  an  injury,  but  any  indignity  in  act 
or  speech  offered  to  him  was  punishable.  (4)  He  had  also  the 
right  to  interfere  for  the  prevention  of  abuses,  and  to  protect  the 
oppressed.  (5)  It  is  possible  that  his  power  to  initiate  legislation 
may  partly  come  under  this  head. 

Besides  these  powers  springing  from  the  tribunician  potestas,  the 
Princeps  possessed,  as  we  have  seen,  other  prerogatives  defined  by 
the  Lex  de  imperio. 

§  2.  Though  the  sovran  people  was  now  represented  by  the 
Princeps,  it  had  still  some  political  duties  to  perform  itself.  The 
popular  assemblies  still  met,  elected  magistrates,  and  made  laws. 
The  following  points  are  to  be  observed. 

(1)  Augustus  formally  deprived  the  people  of  the  judicial  powers 
which  had  belonged  to  it. 

(2)  The  comitia  tributa  continued  to  be  a  legislative  assembly, 
and  the  right  of  making  laws  was  never  formally  taken  away  from 
it.     But  by  indirect  means,  as  will  presently  be  explained,  legis- 
lation almost  entirely  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  Emperor ;  and 
after  the  reign  of  Tiberius  laws  were  not  made  by  the  comitia. 
For  a  long  time,  however,  the  form  of  conferring  the  tribunician 
power  in  an  assembly  of  the  people,  was  maintained.     The  as- 
sembly for  this  purpose  was  called  comitia  tribunicise  potestatis. 

(3)  The  election  of  magistrates  was  the  most  important  function  of 
the  popular  assemblies  under  Augustus.  Constitutionally,  the  consuls 
and  praetors  were  elected  in  the  comitia  of  the  centuries,  while  the 
tribunes,  sediles  and  quaastors  were  chosen  in  the  comitia  of  the 
tribes.     But  after  the  foundation  of  the  Empire  the  distinction 
between  the  comitia  centuriata  and  the  comitia  tributa  seems  to 
have  disappeared ;  and  it  is  only  safe  to  speak  generally  of  "  an 
assembly  of  the  people." 

The  chief  function  of  the  comitia  curiata  had  been  to  pass  leges 
de  imperio;  and  there  was  room  for  it  to  exercise  its  powers  on 
the  five  or  six  occasions  on  which  the  proconsular  imperium  was 
conferred  on  Augustus.  But  it  is  not  clear  whether  on  these 
occasions  an  assembly  of  the  people  was  consulted  at  all;  much 
less  whether,  if  so,  the  assembly  took  the  special  form  of  a  curiate 
assembly. 

But  whatever  may  have  been  the  theory,  and  however  tenderly 
republican  forms  were  preserved  by  Augustus,  the  people  practically 
lost  all  its  political  power.  And  this  was  quite  right.  In  ancient 
times,  before  the  introduction  of  representative  government,  popular 


30  GOVERNMENT  OF  PRINCE  PS  AND  SENATE    CHAP,  m 

assemblies  worked  very  well  for  governing  a  town  and  a  small 
surrounding  territory,  but  were  quite  unsuitable  for  directing  or 
deciding  the  policy  of  a  great  empire.  Moreover,  with  ext<  nd  d 
franchise,  it  was  impossible  that  all  those  who  weie  entitled  to 
vote  in  the  assemblies  could  avail  themselves  of  the  privilege;  and, 
as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  comitia  in  the  later  republic  \\ere  chiefly 
attended  by  the  worst  and  least  responsible  voters,  and  were  often 
the  scenes  of  riot  and  bloodshed. 


SECT.  II. — THE  PRINCEPS  AND  SENATE. 

§  3.  The  government  of  the  Empire  was  divided  between  the 
Emperor  and  the  senate,  and  the  ]  osition  of  the  senate  was  a  very 
important  one.  Augustus  made  some  changes  in  it*  constitution. 
The  number  of  the  senate  had  been  raised  by  Julius  Ca?sar  to  nine 
hundred;  Augustus  reduced  it  again  to  six  hundred.  He  also  fixed 
the  property  qualification  for  senators  at  1,000,000  sesterces 
(about  £8,000).  Those  who  hud  held  the  office  of  quaestor  had, 
as  under  the  Republic,  the  right  of  admission  1o  the  order,  and  the 
age  was  definitely  fixed  at  twenty-five.  The  semtorial  classes 
were  still  determined  by  official  rank  (consulate,  praetorians,  &c.). 
Thus  the  constitution  of  the  senate  formally  depended  on  the 
people,  as  the  people  elected  the  magistrates.  The  influence  of  the 
Emperor,  however,  was  exerted  in  two  ways.  (1)  The  Emperor 
was  able  to  influence  the  election  of  magistrates  in  the  popular 
assembly  (see  below,  §  5  (2)  ),  and  (2)  he  coull  assume  the  powers 
of  censor,  and  perform  a  lectio  seriatus.  Augustus  puriried  ihe 
senate  on  several  occasions.*  The  censor,  or  he  who  possessed 
the  censorial  power,  under  the  Principal — always  (after  22  B.C.), 
though  not  necessarily,  the  Princeps  himself  with  or  without  a 
colleague — could  not  only  place  by  adlectio  a  non-senator  in  the 
senate;  but  could  ass  gn  him  a  place  in  a  rank  higher  than  the 
lowest.  In  fact,  adlection  among  the  qnsestoriatis  (the  lowest  clas<) 
was  uncommon ;  adlection  eirher  into  the  tribunician  or  into  the 
praetorian  class  was  the  rule.  Adl<  ction  into,  the  highevst  rank 
of  all,  the  consulates,  wa<  practised  by  Caesar  the  Dictator,  but 
not  by  Caesar  the  first  Princeps  or  any  of  his  successors  up  to  the 
third  century.  When  it  became  usual,  as  it  did  before  the  death 
of  Augustus,  to  elect  half-yearly  instead  of  annual  consuls,  the 
influence  which  the  Emperor  could  exert  at  the  elect  ons  gave  him 
much  of  the  power  which  Caesar  the  Dictator  exerted  by  adlectio 
inter  consulares.  A  list  of  the  senate  was  made  up  every  year. 

*  See  above,  Cbap.  II.  $  8. 


CHAP.  m.  THE  SENATORIAL  CAREER.  31 

The  Emperor  also  exerted  a  great  influence  on  the  constitution 
of  the  senate  in  another  way.  Admission  to  the  senate  in  the 
ordinary  course  depended  on  the  qusestorship ;  .and  the  quaestorship 
depended  on  the  vigintivirate.  The  rule  was  that  only  those  who 
belonged  to  the  senatorial  rank  could  be  candidates  for  the 
vigintivkate.  Here  adlection  could  not  come  in ;  but  the  Emperor 
assumed  the  right  of  admitting  as  candidates  for  the  vigintivirate 
persons  on  i  side  the  senatorial  class,  by  bestowing  upon  them  the 
latns  davus.  Thus  a  young  knight,  not  born  of  a  senatorial  family, 
might,  by  the  Emperor's  favour,  enter  on  a  senatorial  career  and 
become  a  member  of  the  senate.  The  poet  Ovid,  who  by  birth 
belonged  to  the  equestrian  order,  is  a  well-known  example.  The 
Emperor  seems  to  have  also  had  the  power  of  granting  a  dispensa- 
tion which  allowed  persons  who  had  not  been  vigintiviri  to  become 
quaestors.  It  should  be  observed  that  in  the  senatorial  career 
(cursus  honorum)  military  bervice  (generally  for  a  year  in  one 
legion)  was  necessary.  The  usual  steps  were  (1)  vigintivirate, 
(2)  military  tribunate,*  (3)  qusestorship,  (4)  aedileship  or  tribunate, 
(5)  praetorsh ip,  (6)  consulate.  Hence  the  vigintiviral  offices  are 
called  by  Ovid  "  the  first  offices  of  tender  age."  f 

The  Priuceps  was  himself  not  only  a  senator,  but  the  "  Prince  of 
the  senate;"  his  name  stood  first  on  the  list  of  senators,  and  he 
possessed  the  right  of  voting  first.  He  did  not,  however,  adopt 
princeps  senatus  as  one  of  his  titles,  as  it  was  his  policy  rather  to 
distingui>h  himself  from  than  to  identify  himself  with  the  senate. 
Special  clauses  of  the  lex  de  imperio  conferred  upon  him  further 
rights  in  regard  to  the  transactions  of  that  body.  He  had  the 
rights  of  summoning  the  senate — a  right  which  he  might  have 
claimed  by  virtue  of  the  tribunician  power  itself, — and  of  intro- 
ducing bills  (relatio)  either  orally  or,  in  case  of  his  absence,  by 
writing,  the  proposal  being  couched  in  the  form  of  an  oratio  (or 
litterse)  ad  senatum.  His  tribunician  power  gave  him  the  right, 
as  we  have  already  seen,  of  cancelling  senatusconsulta.  The 
reports  of  the  transactions  in  the  curia  were  always  laid  before 
Augustus  when  he  was  not  present  himself,  and  he  appointed  a 
special  officer,  as  h'S  representative,  to  see  that  the  reports  were 
drawn  up  in  full  and  nothing  important  omitted.  This  officer  was 
called  curator  actorum  (or  ab  actis)  Senal-us. 

Augustus  introduced  the  practice  of  forming  senatorial  committees 
to  consult  beforehand,  in  conjunction  with  himself,  on  measures 
whii-h  were  to  come  before  the  senate.  They  consisted  of  one 
magistrate  from  each  college  and  fifteen  senators  chosen  by  lot  every 

*  See  below,  $  1,  (1). 

f  Tristia,  v.  10.  33  :  Tenene  primes  aetatis  honores. 


32   GOVERNMENT  OF  PKINCEPS  AND  SENATE.  CHAP,  in 

six  months,  and  formed  a  sort  of  "  cabinet  council."  In  the  last 
year  of  his  life,  when,  owing  to  his  weakness  and  advanced  age,  he 
could  no  longer  appear  in  the  curia,  a  small  senate  was  empowered 
to  meet  in  his  house  and  pass  resolutions  in  the  name  of  the  whole 
senate.  This  body  consisted  of  his  son,  his  two  grandsons,  the 
consuls  in  office  and  the  consuls  designate,  twenty  senators  chosen 
for  a  year,  and  other  senators  whom  the  Emperor  himself  selected 
for  each  sitting.  This  political  consilium  was  no  part  of  the 
constitution,  and  was  in  fact,  under  the  early  Principate,  only 
adopted  by  Augustus  himself  and  his  successor  Tiberius.  It  must 
be  carefully  distinguished  from  the  judicial  consilium,  which  will 
be  mentioned  below. 

§  4.  It  has  been  already  mentioned  that  the  joint  rule  of  the 
Empire  by  the  Emperor  and  the  senate  is  sometimes  called  a 
dyarchy.  It  was  a  dyarchy  that  might  at  any  moment  become 
openly,  as  it  was  virtually,  a  monarchy.  For  the  Emperor 
possessed  the  actual  power  through  his  control  of  the  army,  and  ii 
he  had  chosen  to  exert  force  he  might  have  destroyed  the  political 
existence  of  the  senate.  But  the  change  of  the  dyarchy  into 
a  monarchy  was  wrought  gradually,  and  was  partly  due  to  the 
incompetence  of  the  senate,  which  invited  the  interference  of  the 
sovrans.  The  mains  imperium  was  changed  by  degrees  into  the 
direct  rule  of  those  provinces  which  were  not  part  of  the  Emperor's 
proconsular  "  province."  But  Augustus  was  thoroughly  in  earnest 
in  giving  to  the  senate  a  distinct  political  position  and  substantial 
powers.  He  carefully  abstained  from  interfering  in  the  provinces 
which  were  not  within  his  imperium.  He  was  a  man  of  com- 
promise, and  the  constitution  which  he  framed  was  intended  to 
be  a  compromise  between  the  democratic  monarchy,  which  as 
the  son  of  Julius  he  really  represented,  and  the  aristocracy.  He 
was  anxious  to  wipe  out  the  memory  of  the  civil  wars  and  to 
have  it  forgotten  that  he  had  been  the  champion  of  the  democracy. 
While  he  continued  to  bear  the  name  of  the  divine  Julius,  he  seems 
not  to  have  cared  to  dwell  on  the  acts  of  the  great  Dictator ;  and  it 
has  often  been  noticed  how  rarely  the  poets  of  the  Augustan  age 
celebrate  the  praises  of  Julius  Caesar.  We  may  safely  say  that  no 
statesman  has  ever  surpassed  Augustus  in  the  art  of  withholding 
from  political  facts  their  right  names. 

There  are  many  points  in  the  Augustan  system  which  are  not 
p'ain  in  their  constitutional  bearings.  But  the  general  lines  are  clear 
enough.  The  careful  balancing  between  the  rights  and  duties  of 
the  two  political  powers  produced  some  artificial  arrangements 
which  could  not  last,  and  which  were  soon  altered,  either  formally 
or  tacitly,  at  the  expense  of  the  senate.  But  the  main  principle  of 


CHAP.  in.     ADMINISTRATION  AND  JURISDICTION.        33 

the  system  founded  by  Augustus — the  fiction  of  the  independent  and 
co-ordinate  government  of  the  senate— was  not  entirely  abandoned 
for  three  centuries. 

§  5.  The  division  of  the  labours  and  privileges  of  government 
between  the  senate  and  the  Emperor  may  be  considered  under  five 
heads:  administration,  jurisdiction,  election  of  magistrates,  legis- 
lation, and  finances. 

(1)  Most  of  the  administrative  functions,  which  the  senate  dis- 
charged under  the  Kepublic,  especially  hi  its  later  period,  did  not 
belong  to  that  body  by  constitutional  right,  but  were  acquired  at 
the  expense  of  the   supreme   magistrates,  to  whom  they  truly 
belonged.     Many  of  these  powers  were  confirmed  to  it  under  the 
Empire. 

a.  The  powers  which  the  senate  had  exercised  in  the  sphere  of 
religion,  such  as  the  suppression  of  foreign  or  profane  rites,  it  con- 
tinued to  exercise  in  the  imperial  period. 

b.  The  rights  of  making  war  and  peace,  and  negotiating  with 
foreign  powers,  were  taken  away  from  the  senate;  but  in  unim- 
portant cases  the  Emperor  sometimes  referred  foreign  embassies  to 
that  body. 

c.  The  authority  of  the  senate  in  the  affairs  of   Italy  continued 
unimpaired. 

d.  The  affairs  of  Home  were  at  first  entirely  under  the  manage- 
ment of  the  senate,  but  the  incompetent   administration  of  that 
body  soon  demanded  the  intervention  of  the  Emperor. 

e.  The  provinces    were  divided  into  imperial  and  senatorial;* 
and  the  administration  of  the  latter  was  in  the  hands  of  the  senate. 
But  the  Emperor  had  certain  powers  in  the  senatorial  provinces, 
as  will  be  explained  in   a  later  chapter.     On  the  other  hand, 
the  senate  had  a   small  hold  on   the  imperial  provinces  (except 
Egypt),  in  so  far  as  the  Emperor  appointed  only  senators  as  his 
governors. 

(2)  The  senate,  as  the  council  of  the  chief  magistrates,  sometimes 
exercised  judicial  functions  under  the  Republic,  as  for  example  in 
the  case  of  the  Bacchic  orgies  (186  B.C.).     But  such  cases  were  only 
exceptional.     Augustus    made  the   senate  a   permanent   court  of 
justice,  in  which  the  consul  acted  as  the  presiding  judge.     This 
court  could  try  all  criminal  cases ;  but  in  practice  only  important 
causes,  in  which  people  of  high  rank  were  involved,  or  in  which  no 
specific  law  was  applicable,  came  before  it.     The  Emperor  could 
influence  this  court  in  two  ways,  (1)  as  he  was  himself  a  member 
of  it,  and  (2)  by  the  riiiht  of  intercession,  which  he  possessed  in 
virtue  of  his  tribunician  power. 

*  See  below.  Chap.  VL 


34  GOVEKNMENT  OF  PRINCEPS  AND  SENATE.  CHA!    m. 

Besides  the  court  of  the  consul,  in  which  the  senate  acted  as  jury, 
the  e  was  the  court  of  the  Emperor.  He  could  pass  judgment  with- 
out a  jury,  though  he  generally  called  in  the  aid  of  assessors,  who 
were  called  his  consilium,  a  distinct  body  from  the  political 
consilium  mentioned  above  (§  3).  Every  case  might  come  before 
his  court  as  before  that  of  the  senate.  But  practically  he  only 
tried  cases  of  political  importance  or  in  which  persons  of  high 
position  were  involved. 

It  lay  in  the  nature  of  things  that  in  these  two  new  courts  only 
special  and  important  causes  were  tried.  Ordinary  processes  in 
Rome  and  Italy  were  decided,  as  in  former  days,  by  the  ordinary 
courts  of  the  praetors  (quaestiones  perpetuse),  who  still  continued  to 
exercise  their  judicial  functions.  But  senators  were  now  entirely 
excluded  from  the  bench  of  indices,*  who  appear  to  have  been 
nominated  by  the  Emperor. 

In  the  provinces  justice  was  administered  by  the  governors,  but 
they  had  no  jurisdiction  over  Roman  citizens,  unless  it  was  specially 
delegated  to  them  by  the  Emperor.  Roman  citizens  could  always 
appeal  from  the  provincial  courts  to  the  higher  courts  at  Home. 
The  appeUatio  to  the  Princeps  seems  to  have  been  made  legal  by  a 
measure  of  30  B.C.  On  the  principle  of  the  division  of  power 
between  senate  ami  Princeps,  appeals  from  the  decrees  of  the 
governors  of  senatorial  provinces  should  have  been  exclusively 
directed  to  the  sena'e.  But  on  the  strength  of  his  imperium 
mains  the  Emperor  often  received  appeals  from  senatorial  as  well 
as  from  imperial  provinces.  Appeal  could  only  be  made  against 
the  sentence  of  an  official  to  whom  judicial  power  had  been 
delegated,  it  could  not  be  made  directly  against  a  jury;  but  it 
could  be  made  against  the  decree  of  the  magistrate  which  appointed 
the  jury. 

(3)  Under  Augustus  the  senate  had  no  voice  in  the  election  of 
magistrates.  The  Emperor  was  himself  able  to  control  the  elec- 
tions in  the  comitia  in  two  ways.  (1)  He  had  the  right  to  test 
the  qualification  of  the  candidates  and  conduct  the  proceedings 
of  the  election.  This  right  regularly  belonged  to  the  consuls.  But 
when  Augustus  set  aside  the  consulate  for  the  tribunician  power  in 
23  B.C.,  it  seems  that  he  reserved  this  right  by  some  special  clause. 
He  was  thus  able  to  publish  a  list  of  candidates,  and  so  "  nominate  " 
those  whom  he  wished  to  be  elected.  He  used  only  to  nominate 
as  ma  y  as  there  were  vacancies.  (2)  He  had  the  riy;ht  of  com- 
mendation (commtndatio  or  suffragatio).  That  is,  he  could 
name  certain  persons  as  suitable  to  fill  certain  offices ;  and  the^e 
candidates  recommended  by  the  R\\i\mw  (candidati  principis)  were 
*  See  below.  $7  (8>. 


CHAP.  in. 


LEGISLATION. 


85 


returned  as  a  matter  of  course.  The  highest  office,  however,  the 
consulate  *  was  excepted  from  the  right  of  commendation. 

(4)  In  regard  to  legislation  the  senate  was  theoretically  in  a 
better  position  under  the  Empire  than  under  the  Republic. 
Originally  arid  strictly  it  had  no  power  of  legislation  \\hatever. 
The  decisions  of  the  senate,  embodied  in  senatusconsulta,  did  not 
constitutiona'ly  become  law  until  tbey  weie  approved  and  passed 
by  an  assembly  of  the  people,  But  practically  they  came  to  have 
legal  force.  The  confirmation  of  the  people  came  to  be  a  mere 
form,  and  sometimes  the  form  was  omitted.  It  is  possible  that  it 
was  omitted  in  the  case  of  the  decree  which  conferred  the  imperium 
on  Augustus. 

Under  Augustus  the  senate  became  a  legislative  body  and  in  this 
respect  took  the  place  of  the  assembly  of  the  people.  From  it  and 
in  its  name  issued  the  laws  (stnatusconsultu}  which  tlie  Emperors 
wished  to  enact ;  just  as  the  laws  (leges)  proposed  by  the  republican 
magistrates  were  made  by  the  people. 

The  senate  alone  had  the  power  of  passing  laws  to  dispense 
from  the  operation  of  other  laws,f  and  the  Emperor  himself,  who 
was  bound  by  the  laws  like  any  other  citizen,  had  to  resort  to  it  for 
tl  is  purpose.  For  example,  in  24  B.C.  a  senatusconsultum  freed 
Augustus  Irom  the  Cincian  law  which  fixed  a  maximum  for 
donations.  rl  he  special  exception  of  particular  persons  from  the  law 
which  defined  a  least  age  for  holding  the  magistracies,  was  at  first 
a  prerogative  of  the  senate,  but  the  Princeps  giadually  usurped  it. 
To  the  senate  also  belonged  exclusively  the  right  of  decreeing  a 
triumph,  of  consecrating  or  condemning  the  Princeps  after  death, 
and  of  licensing  colleyia. 

The  Princeps  had  no  direct  right  to  make  laws,  more  than  a 
consul  or  a  tribune.  Like  these  magistrates,  he  had  by  virtue  of 
his  tribunician  power  the  right  to  propose  or  introduce  a  law  at  the 
comitia,  for  the  people  to  pass.  But  this  form  of  initiating 
legislation  was  liitle  used,  and  was  entirely  given  up  by  the  suc- 
cessor of  Augustus.  It  would  seem  tl  at  it  did  not  harmonize  with 
the  monarchical  essence  of  the  Principate.  It  placed  the  Princeps 
on  a  level  with  the  other  magistrates,  and  perhaps  it  recognised  too 
openly  the  sovran  right  of  the  people,  which,  in  point  of  fact,  the 
Emperor  had  usurped.  But  formally  the  Princeps  had  no  right  to 
make  laws  himself,  and  thus  Augustus  as  Princeps  was  less 
powerful  than  Cassar  as  triumvir.  But  the  lestraint  was  evaded  in 


*  This  is  true,  at  all  even's,  for  the 
first  two  Emperors.  Commendation  for 
the  consulate  seems  to  have  been  intro- 
duced bj  the  reign  of  Nero. 


f  This  applies  to  the  early  period ;  bun 
at  the  end  of  the  first  century  A.D.  we 
flnd  the  Emperors  granting  dispensa- 
tions. 


36   GOVERNMENT  OF  PRINCEPS  AND  SENATE    CHAP,  m 


several  ways,  and  as  a  matter*  of  fact  the  Emperor  was  the  law- 
giver. By  special  enactments  he  was  authorised  to  grant  to 
hoth  corporations  and  individuals  rights  which  were  properly 
only  conferred  by  the  comitia.  It  was  the  Princeps  who  founded 
colonies  and  gave  them  Roman  citizenship.  It  was  he  who  be- 
stowed upon  a  subject  community  the  dignity  of  ius  Latinum 
or  a  Latin  community  to  full  Roman  citizenship.  It  was  quite 
logical  that  these  powers  should  be  transferred  to  the  Princeps, 
in  his  capacity  of  Impevator,  as  sovran  over  the  provinces  and 
disi  enser  of  peace  and  war,  and  maker  of  treaties.  He  also  used 
to  define  the  local  statutes  for  a  new  colony.  He  had  the  right  to 
<>rant  Roman  citizenship  to  soldiers  at  all  events,  perhaps  also  to 
others. 

Apart  from  these  leges  datae,  which  were  properly  comitial  laws, 
the  most  important  mode  of  imperial  legislation  was  by  "con- 
stitutions," which  did  not  require  the  assistance  of  either  senate  or 
comitia.  These  imperial  measures  took  the  form  either  of  (1; 
edicts,  which  as  a  magistrate  the  Princeps  was  specially  em- 
powered to  issue;  or  of  (2)  acta  (decreta  or  epistolsi),  decisions 
and  regulations  of  the  Emperor  which  primarily  applied  only  to 
special  cases,  but  were  generalised  and  adopted  as  universally  binding 
laws.  The  validity  of  the  imperial  acta  was  recognised  in  a  special 
clause  of  the  lex  de  imperio,  and  the  oath  taken  by  senators  and 
magistrates  included  a  recognition  of  their  validity.  But  their 
validity  ceased  on  the  death  of  the  Princeps,  and  this  fact 
illustrates  the  important  constitutional  difference  between  the 
Principate  and  monarchy. 

(5.)  The  financial  system  of  the  state  was  modified  by  the 
division  of  the  government  between  the  Emperor  and  the  senate. 
There  were  now  two  treasuries  instead  of  one.  The  old  serarium 
Saturni  was  retained  by  the  senaoe.  Under  the  Republic  the 
xrarium  was  under  the  charge  of  the  qusestors,  but  by  Augustus 
the  duty  was  transferred  to  two  prastors,  23  B.C.  (prxtores  serarii). 
The  Emperor's  treasury  was  called  the^scws ;  *  and  from  it  he  had 
to  defray  the  costs  of  the  provincial  administration,  the  main- 
tenance of  the  army  and  fleets,  the  corn-supply,  &c.  It  is  to  be 
observed  that  provincial  territory  in  the  imperial  provinces  was  now 
regarded  as  the  property,  not  of  the  state,  but  of  the  Emperor ; 
and  therefore  the  proceeds  derived  from  the  land-taxes  went  into 
the  fiscus.  From  a  strictly  legal  point  of  view  the  fiscus  was  as 
much  the  private  property  of  the  Emperor  as  the  personal  property 


*  The  name,  was  probably  not  applied  In 
this  technical  sens  •  as  early  a-*  Augustus. 
It  perhaps  was  introduced  about  ihe  time 


of  Claudius,    but   it    is 
amicipatetheu8age. 


convenient    to 


CHAP.  in. 


^EEARIUM   AND  FISCUS. 


37 


which  he  inherited  (patrimonium)  or  acquired  as  a  private  citizen 
(res  privata).  But  at  first  the  latter  was  kept  apart  from  the 
fiscus,  which  belonged  to  him  in  his  political  capacity.  His  personal 
property,  however,  soon  became  looked  upon,  not  indeed  as  fiscal, 
but  as  in  a  certain  sense  imperial  (cro \\n-property,  as  we  should 
say),  and  devolving  by  right  on  his  successor. 

The  expenses  which  the  eerariwn  was  called  upon  to  defray 
under  the  Principate  were  chiefly  (1)  public  religious  worship, 
(2)  public  festivals,  (3)  maintenance  of  public  buildings,  (4)  oc- 
casional erection  of  new  buildings,  and  (5)  construction  of  public 
roads  in  Rome  and  Italy,  to  which,  however,  the  fisc  also  con- 
tributed. Indeed  it  is  impossible  to  distinguish  accurately  the 
division  between  the  two  treasuries. 

In  the  senatorial  .provinces  the  taxes  were  at  first  collected  on 
the  farming  system,  which  had  prevailed  under  the  Republic,  but 
this  system  was  abandoned  before  long,  and  finally  the  collection 
of  the  taxes  in  the  senatorial  as  well  as  the  imperial  provinces 
was  conducted  by  imperial  officers.  But  the  tendency  was  to 
consign  the  duty  of  collecting  the  taxes  to  the  communities  them- 
selves, and  in  later  times  this  became  the  system  universally.* 

In  the  arrangemenis  for  minting  money  also  a  division  was  made 
by  Augustus  between  Emperor  and  senate.  At  first  (27  B.C.)  both 
senate  and  Emperor  could  issue  gold  and  silver  coinage,  at  the 
expense  of  the  serarium  and  the  imperial  treasury  respectively. 
Copper  coinage  ceased  altogether  for  a  time.  But  when  copper  was 
again  issued  about  twelve  years  later,  a  new  arrangement  was  made. 
'1  he  Princeps  reserved  for  himself  exclusively  the  coining  of  gold 
and  silver,  and  gave  the  coining  of  copper  exclusively  to  the  senate. 
This  was  an  advantage  for  the  senate  and  a  serious  limit  on  the 
power  of  the  Princeps.  For  the  exchange  value  of  the  copper 
always  exceed-  d  the  vnlue  of  the  metal,  and  thus  the  senate  had 
the  power,  which  the  Princeps  did  not  possess,  of  issuing  an  .un- 
limited quantity  of  credit-money.  In  later  times  we  shall  see  that 
the  Emperors  could  not  resist  the  temptation  of  depreciating  the 
value  of  silver  and  thus  assuming  the  same  privilege. 

One  of  the  most  important  functions  of  the  senate  under  the 
Emperors  was  that  it  served  as  an  organ  of  publication,  and  kept 
the  public  in  communication  with  the  government.  The  Emperor 
could  communicate  to  the  senate  important  events  at  home  or 
abroad,  and  though  these  communications  were  not  formally  public,f 


*  For  taxes  and  sources  of  state  income 
see  Note  A.  at  en"  of  chapter. 

f  The  publication  of  the  acta  senatus, 
or  proceedings  of  the  senate,  which  seems 


to  have  been  first  introduced  in  59  B.C., 
was  abolished  by  Augustus.  For  the 
actadiurna,  see  Note  B.  at  end  of  chap- 
ter. 


38  GOVERNMENT  OF  PEINCEPS  AND  SENATE.   CHAP.  m. 

they  reached  the  public  ear.  It  was  usual  for  a  new  Princeps  on 
his  accession  to  lay  before  the  senate  a  programme  of  his  intended 
policy,  and  this  was  of  course  designed  for  the  benefit  of  a  much 
larger  audience  than  that  assembled  in  the  Curia. 


SECT.  III. — THE  PRINCEFS  AND  THE  MAGISTRATES. 

§  6.  We  have  seen  that  the  republican  magistrates  continued  to 
be  electe«l  under  the  Empire,  and  they  were  still  supposed  to 
exercise  their  functions  indepijnden'ly.  Under  the  dictatorship  of 
Julius  Caesar,  tliey  had  been  subject  to  the  mafus  imperium  of  the 
dictator ;  but  it  was  not  so  under  the  Prineipate.  The  Princeps 
has  no  mains  imperium  over  them,  as  he  has  over  the  proconsul 
abroad.  His  power  is  only  co-ordinate,  but  on  the  other  hand  it  is 
quite  independent. 

The  dignity  of  the  consulate  was  maintained,  and  it  was  still 
a  coveted  post.  Indeed  new,  though  reflected,  lustre  seemed  to 
be  shed  on  the  supreme  magistracy  by  the  face  that  it  was  the  only 
magistracy  which  the  Princeps  deigned  occasionally  to  hold  himself. 
To  be  the  Emperor's  coll^a^ue  was  a  great  distinction  indeed.  The 
consuls  still  give  their  name  to  the  year  of  their  office,  and  they 
ret  dned  the  right  of  conducting  and  controlling  the  elections  in 
the  popular  assemblies.  It  has  already  been  mentioned  that  a  new 
senatorial  court  was  instituted,  in  which  they  were  the  presiding 
judges.  Augustus  al-o  assigned  the  consuls  some  new  duties  in 
civil  jurisdiction.  But  he  introduced  the  fashion  of  replacing  the 
consuls  who  entered  upon  office  in  January  by  a  new  pair  of 
consules  suffecti  at  the  end  of  six  months.  This  custom,  however, 
was  not  definitely  legal  sed,  and  was  sometimes  not  observed.  In 
later  times  four-monthly  consulates  were  introduced,*  and  later 
still  two-monthly,  f 

The  number  of  prsetors  had  been  increased  to  sixteen  by  Julius 
Caesar.  Augustus  at  first  reduced  the  number  to  eigjht ;  he  then 
added  two  prsetores  serarii ;  J  afterwards  he  increased  them  again  to 
sixteen,  but  finally  fixed  the  number  at  twelve.  The  chief  duties 
of  the  prsetors  were,  as  before,  judicial.  But  Augustus  assigned  to 
them  the  obligation  of  celebrating  public  games,  which  formerly 
had  devolved  upon  the  consuls  and  the  sediles. 

A  college  of  ten  tribunes  was  still  elected  every  year,  but  the 
office  became  unimportant,  and  the  chief  duties  of  a  tribune  were 
municipal.!  The  asdiles  also  lost  many  of  their  functions. 

*  After  Nero.  j      $  But  they  otill  retained  and   Bome- 

f  By  Hadrian.  times  exercised  the  ius  auxilii  and  inter- 

t  See  above,  $  5  (6).  |  cestio. 


CHAP.  HI.      THE   REPUBLICAN  MAGISTRACIES.  39 

Augustus  divided  the  city  of  Rome  into  fourteen  regions,  over 
each  of  which  an  overseer  or  prefect  presided ;  these  overseers  were 
chosen  from  the  praetors,  sediles,  and  tribunes. 

The  qusestorship  was  a  more  serious  and  laborious  office.  Sulla 
had  fixed  the  number  of  qusestors  at  twenty ;  Julius  Caesar  raised  it 
to  forty ;  Augustus  reduced  it  again  to  twenty.  Quaestors  were 
assigned  to  the  governors  of  senatorial  provinces  ;  the  proconsul  of 
Sicily  had  two.  Two  quaestors  were  at  the  disposal  of  the  Emperor, 
to  bear  communications  between  him  and  the  senate.  The  consuls 
had  four  qusestors.  and  these  were  two  qusestores  urbani. 

This  magistracy  had  an  importance  over  and  above  its  proper 
functions,  in  that  it  qualified  for  admission  into  the  senate.  Thus 
as  long  as  the  quaestors  were  elected  by  the  comitia,  the  people  had 
a  direct  voice  in  the  formation  of  the  senate ;  and  thus,  too,  the 
Emperor,  by  his  right  of  commendation  already  mentioned,  exercised 
a  great  though  indirect  influence  on  the  constitution  of  that  body. 

The  vigmtivirate  was  held  before  the  qusestorship.  It  comprised 
four  distinct  boards:  the  tresviri  capitales,  on  whom  it  devolved  to 
execute  capital  sentences ;  the  tresviri  monetales,  who  presided  at 
the  mint ;  the  quatuorviri  mis  in  urbe  purgandis,  officers  who  looked 
after  the  streets  of  Rome ;  and  the  decemviri  stlitibus  iudicandis, 
who  were  now  appointed  to  preside  in  the  centumviral  courts. 

The  Republican  magistrates  formed  a  civil  service  and  executive 
for  the  senate.  The  Princeps  had  no  such  assistance  at  his  disposal 
As  a  magistrate,  he  was  supposed,  like  a  consul  or  a  prastor,  to  do 
everything  himself,  The  personal  activity,  which  is  presupposed 
on  the  part  of  the  Princeps,  is  one  of  the  features  which  distinguish 
the  Principate  from  monarchy.  It  followed,  as  a  consequence  of 
this  theory,  that  all  the  officials,  who  carried  out  the  details  of 
administration  for  which  the  Emperor  was  responsible,  were  not 
public  officers,  but  the  private  servants  of  the  Emperor.  A  freed- 
man  fulfilled  duties  which  in  a  monarchy  would  devolve  upon  a 
secretary  of  state.  The  Emperor  had  theoretically  a  perfect  right 
to  have  appointed,  if  he  chose,  freedmen,  or  citizens  of  any  rank,  as 
governors  in  the  provinces  which  he  was  supposed  to  govern  him- 
self. It  was  due  to  the  sound  policy  of  Augustus  and  his  self- 
control  that  he  made  it  a  strict  rule,  which  his  successors  main- 
tained, only  to  appoint  senators,  and  in  certain  cases  knights,  to 
those  posts.  He  also  voluntarily  defined  the  qualification  of 
equestrian  rank  for  the  financial  officers,  procwratores  Augusti, 
who  represented  him  in  the  provinces.*  But  the  position  of  the 
knights  must  be  more  fully  explained. 

*  Seebelow,$  7.  (9),  and  Chap.  VI.,  $3. 


40   GOVEENMENT  OF  PRINCEPS  AND  SENATE.   CHAP.  m. 


SECT.  IV— THE  EQUITES. 

§  7.  The  equestrian  order  was  reorganised  by  Augustus,  and 
altered  both  in  its  constitution  and  in  its  political  position. 

(1)  Constitution.      In  the  early  Republic  the  equites  were  the 
citizen  cavalry,  who  were  provided  with  horses  for  their  military 
service  at  public  cost.     But  in  the  later  Republic  there  had  come  to 
be  three  classes  of  equites ;  those  who  were  provided  with  public 
horses  (eques  Romanus  equo  publico),  those  who  provided  their  own 
horses,  and  those  who  by  estate  or  otherwise  were  qualified  for 
cavalry  service  but   did  not   serve.      The  two  last  classes  were 
not  in  the  strictest  speech  Roman  knights,  and  they  were  abolished 
altogether  by  Augustus,  who  thus  returned  to  the  system  of  the 
early  Republic.     Henceforward  every  knight  is  an  eques  Romanui 
equo  publico*  and  the  whole  ordo  equester  consists  of  such. 

(2)  Admission.     The   Emperor  himself  assumed  the  right  o. 
granting  the  public  horse  which  secured  entry  into  the  equestriai 
order.      The    chief    qualifications    were    the    equestrian    census. 
free  birth,  soundness  of  body,  good  character,  but  the  qualification 
of  free  birth  was  not  strictly  insisted  on  under  the  Empire,  and 
freedmen  were  often  raised  to  be  knights.    A  senator's  son  necessarily 
became  a  knight  by  virtue  of  his  birth,  and  thus  for  men  born  in 
senatorial  rank,  knighthood  was  a  regular  stage  before  entry  into 
the  senate.      There  was  a  special  official  department  (ad  census 
eguitum  Romanorum)  for  investigating  the  qualifications  of  those 
who  were  admitted  into  either  of  "  the  two  orders,"  (ordo  uterque'j 
as  the  senate  and  the  knights  were  called. 

(3)  Life-tenure.     Another  innovation  of  Augustus  consisted  in 
making  the  rank  of  knight  tenable  for  life.    Apart  from  degradation, 
as  a  punishment  or  as  a  consequence  of  the  reduction  of  his  incomt, 
below  the  equestrian  rating  (400,000  sesterces),  a  knight  does  not 
cease  to  be  a.  knight,  unless  he  becomes  a  senator  or  enters  It  gionary 
service.      Legionary  service  was  so  attractive  under  the  Empire 
that  cases  often  occurred  of  knights   surrendering   their  rank  in 
order  to  become  centurions. 

(4)  Eguitum  probatio.      It  was  an  old  custom  that  the  equites 
ftomani  equo  publico  should  ride  annually,  on  the  Ides  of  July,  in 
full  military   caparison  from   the  Temple  of  Mars  at  the  Porta 
Capena,  first  to  the  Forum  to  offer  sacrifice  there  to  their  patron  gods, 
Castor  and  Pollux,  and  then  on  to  the  Capitol.     This  procession, 


*  Often  abbreviated  to  equo  publico. 
Under  the  later  Republic,  when  there 
w«re  knights,  who  had  their  own  horses, 


equo  publico  and  eques  Somantis 
synonymous  ia  use. 


CHAP.  in.  THE   EQUESTRIAN   ORDER.  41 

called  the  transvectio  equitum  had  fallen  into  disuse,  and  Augustus 
revived  it  and  combined  with  it  an  equitum  probatio,  or  "  review  of 
the  knights."  Sitting  on  horseback  and  ordered  according  to  their 
turmse,  the  knights  passed  before  the  Emperor,  and  the  name  of 
each  was  called  aloud.  The  names  of  any  whose  behaviour  had 
given  cause  for  censure  were  passed  over,  and  they  were  thus 
expelled  from  the  order.  Here  the  Emperor  discharged  duties  which 
before  the  time  of  Sulla  had  been  discharged  by  the  censors.  He 
was  assisted  by  three  or  ten  senators  appointed  for  the  purpose. 

(5)  Organisation.      The    equestrian    order    was    divided    into 
turmx,  six  in  number,  each  of  which  was  commanded  by  one  of  the 
seviri  equitum  Romanorum  (i Aa/a^oi).    The  seviri  were  nominated 
by  the  Emperor,  and  changed  annually  like  the  magistrates.     They 
were  obliged  to  exhibit  games  Qudi  sevirales)  every  year.    It  is  to 
be  observed  that  the  knights  were  not  organised  or  treated  as  a 
political  body,  like  the  senate.      They   had    no    machinery  for 
action ;  no  common  political  initiative ;  no  common  purse. 

(6)  Privileges.    In  dress  the  Roman  eques  was  distinguished  by 
the  military  mantle  called  trabea,  and  the  narrow  purple  stripe 
(angustus  clavus)  on  the  tunic.      They  also  wore  a  gold  ring,  and 
this  was  considered  so  distinctively  a  badge  of  knighthood,  that  the 
bestowal  of  a  gold  ring  by  the  Emperor  became  the  form  of 
bestowing  knighthood.     The  children  of  a  knight,  like  those  of 
a  senator,  were  entitled  to  wear  the  gold  butta.    In  the  theatre 
special  seats — "  the  fourteen  rows  " — were  reserved  for  the  knights, 
and  Augustus  (5  A.D.)  assigned  them  special  seats  also  at  races  in 
the  Circus  and  at  gladiatorial  spectacles. 

(7)  Service  of  the  knights  as  officers.     The  chief  aim  of  Augustus 
in  reorganising  the  knights  was  military.      He  desired  to  procure 
competent  officers  in   the  army,  from  which  posts  he  excluded 
senators  entirely.    Men  of  senatorial  rank,  however,  who,  as  has 
been  already  mentioned,  became  knights  before  they   were-  old 
enough  to  enter  the  senate,  regularly  served  a  militia,  as  it  was 
called.     The  officer-posts  here  referred  to  are    the    subordinate 
commands — not  the  supreme  commands  of  legions — and  are  of  three 
kinds :  (a)  prcefectura  cohortis,  or  command  of  an  auxiliary  cohort, 
(fc)  tribunatus  militum,  in  a  legion,  (c)  prcefectura  alee,  command 
of  an  auxiliary  cavalry  squadron.     The  Emperor,  as  the  supreme 
military  commander,  made  the  appointments    to   these  militix 
equestres.    Service  as  officers  seems  to  have  been  made  obligatory 
on  the  knights  by  Augustus.    As  knights  only  could  hold  these 
posts,  there  was  no  system  of  regular  promotion  for  soldiers  into  the 
officer  class.    But  it  often  happened  that  soldiers  who  had  distin- 
guished themselves  and  had  risen  to  the  first  rank  of  centurions— 


42   GOVERNMENT  OF  PRINCEPS  AND  SENATE.  CHAP.  in. 

who  corresponded  somewhat  to  our  "non-commissioned  officers*' 
— received  the  equus  publicus  from  the  Emperor,  and  thus  wore 
able  to  become  tribunes  and  prsefects.  As  a  rule  the  officers  held 
their  posts  for  several  years,  and  it  was  considered  a  privilege  to 
hold  the  tribunatus  semestris,  which  could  be  laid  down  after  six 
months.* 

(8)  Service  of  knights  as  Jurymen.     In  122  B.C.,  C.  Gracchus 
had  assigned  the  right  of  serving  as  indices  exclusively  to  the 
knights ;  forty  years  later  (81  B.C.),  Sulk  restored  it  to  the  senat. ; 
then  in  70  B.O.,  a  compromise  between  the  two  orders  was  made 
by  the  law  of  L.  Aurelius  Cotta,  whereby  the  list  of  jurymen  was 
composed   of  three  classes,   called   decurise,   the  first  consisting 
entirely  of  senators,  the  second  of  knights  equo  puttico,  the  third 
of  tribuni  xrarii.    As  the  last  class  possessed  the  equestrian  census 
and  belonged  to  the  equestrian  order  in  the  wide  sense  hi  which 
the  term  was  then  used,  although  they  had  not  the  equus  publicus, 
this  law  of  Cotta  really  gave  the  preponderance  to  the  knights. 
The  total  number  of  indices  was  900,  each  class  contributing  300. 
This  arrangement  lasted   till  46  B.C.,  when  Caesar   removed   the 
tribuni  serarii  from  the  third  class  and  filled  it  with  knights  in 
the  strict  sense.     Augustus  excluded  the  senators  altogether  from 
service  as  iudices,  and  while  he  preserved  the  three  decurix  filled 
them  with  knights.     But  he  added  a  fourth  decuria  for  service  in 
unimportant  civil  trials,  consisting  ot  men  who  possessed  more 
than  half  the  equestrian  income  (ducenarii).    Only  men  of  at  least 
thirty  years  of  age  were  placed  on  the  list  of  iudices,  and,  in 
the  time  of  Augustus,  only  citizens  of  Rome  or  Italy. 

(9)  Employment  of  knights  in  state  offices.     By  reserving  the 
posts  of  officers  and  iudices  for  the  knights  to  the  exclusion  of  the 
senators,  Augustus  was  carrying  out  the  design  of  C.  Gracchus 
and  giving  the  knights  an  important  political  position,  so  that 
they  were  in  some  measure  co-ordinated  with  the  senate  as  a 
factor  in  the  state.      But  he  went  much  further  than  this.     He 
divided  the  offices  of  administration  and  the  public  posts  between 
the  senators  and  the  knights.     The  general  principle  of  division 
was  that  those  spheres  of  administration,  which  were  more  closely 
connected  with  the   Emperor  personally,  were  given  to  knights. 
The  legateships  of  legions,  however,  were  reserved  for  senators; 
as  also  the  governorships   of  those  provinces  which   had   been 
annexed    under  the   republic.      But    new    annexations,  such  as 
Egypt,   Noricum,   and  BaBtia,   were    entrusted    to   knights,  and 
likewise  the  commands  of  new  institutions,  such  as  the  fleet  and 
the  auxiliary  troops.     Financial  offices,  the  collection  of  taxes,  and 

*8eeb»low.Ch»p.V.$7. 


CHAP.  m. 


EQUESTRIAN   OFFICES. 


those  posts  in  Rome  and  Italy  (to  be  mentioned  in  Chap.  V.) 
which  the  Kmperor  took  charge  of,  were  also  reserved  for  knights. 
The  selection  of  the  procurators  Auyusti,  or  tax-officers,  in  the 
provinces  from  the  knights  alone  was  some  compensation  to  them 
for  the  loss  of  the  remunerative  field  which  they  had  occupied 
under  the  Republic  as  pullicani.  As  the  taxes  in  the  imperial 
provinces  were  no  longer  farmed,  but  directly  levied  from  the  pro- 
vincials, the  occupation  of  the  knights  as  middlemen,  by  which 
they  had  been  able  to  accumulate  capital  and  so  acquire  political 
influence,  was  gone.  Under  the  Principate  they  are  an  official 
class.  Those  knights  who  held  high  imperial  offices  were  called 
equites  illustres. 

(10)  Elevation  of  knights  to  the  senate.  Knights  of  senatorial 
rank — that  is,  sons*  of  senators — who  had  not  yet  entered  the 
senate,  formed  a  special  class  within  the  equestrian  order,  to  which 
they,  as  a  rule,  only  temporarily  belonged,  and  wore  the  badges  of 
their  senatorial  birth.  They  could  ordinarily  become  senators  on 
reaching  the  age  of  twenty-five.  For  knights  who  were  not  of 
senatorial  rank  there  was  no  regular  system  of  advancement  to  the 
senate.  But  the  Emperor,  by  assuming  censorial  functions,  could 
exercise  the  right  of  adlectio,  and  admit  kniuhts  into  the  senate. 
It  seems  to  have  been  a  regular  usage  to  admit  into  the  senate  the 
commander  of  the  praetorian  guards  when  he  vacated  that  post. 

*  Also  grandsons  or  great-grandsons,  but  not  descendants  beyond  the  third  degree. 


NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


A.— TAXATION  AND  SOURCES  OF 
INCOMK  UNDER  THE  EMPIRE. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  the  chief  taxes, 
imposts,  and  other  sources  of  state  revenue 
(cp.  Mr.  W.  Arnold,  Roman  Provincial 
Administration,  p.  187,  tqq.,  and  articles 
"  Tributum  "  and  "  Vectigalia  "  in  Diet, 
of  Antiquities :  (1)  The  provincial  land- 
tax  ;  (2)  the  aniona,  or  supply  of  corn, 
either  the  an<  ona  ntilitarig,  for  support 
of  the  soldiers  in  the  provinces,  or  the 
annona  civi<a,  which  fell  only  on  Egypt 
and  Africa,  for  the  maintenance  of  Rome ; 
(3)  capitation-tax  on  traders;  (4)  agrr 
publicus  in  Jtaly  and  the  provinces ;  (5) 
the  landed  property  of  the  Emperor 
(patrimonium  Csesaris)  in  Italy  and  the 
provinces ;  Egypt  comes  under  this  head. 


This  property  is  divided  into  arable  land, 
pasture,  and  mines.  (6)  The  vicesima 
hereditatum,  duty  on  legacies  (see  below, 
Chap.  V.,  $  7),  introduced  by  Augustus  hi 
Italy,  but  not  applying  to  the  provinces. 
(7)  The  customs  duties  (portortf).  («) 
Tax  of  one  per  cent,  on  articles  of  sale, 
c&itrsima  rerum  venalium,  introduced  by 
Augustus.  (9)  Tax  of  four  per  cent,  on 
purchase  of  slaves  (quinta  et  vicesima 
venalium  mancipiorum. )  (10)  Bona  dam- 
natorum,  confiscated  property  of  con- 
demned persons.  (11)  Bona  caduca, 
unclaimed  legacies  which  came  to  the 
state.  (12)  Aurum  coronarium,  a  nomi- 
nally voluntary,  but  really  compulsory, 
contribution  offered  to  Emperors  by  Italy 
and  tbe  provinces,  on  their  accession. 


44 


NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


CHAP.  in. 


8.— ACT  A  DIURNA. 

The  acta  diurna  were  the  nearest 
approach  in  Rome  to  our  newspapers, 
especially  our  official  gazettes.  They 
were  published  under  the  authority  of  the 
government.  They  contained  (1)  statistics 
of  births  and  deaths  in  Rome;  details 
about  the  corn  supply  :  an  account  of  the 
public  money  received  from  the  provinces  ; 


(2)  extracts  from  the  acta  forensU, 
containing  magisterial  edicts,  reports  of 
trials,  &c.;  (3)  extracts  from  the  acta 
senatus ;  (4)  a  court  column,  about  the 
doings  of  the  imperial  family ;  (5)  prodi- 
gies, conflagrations,  lists  of  games,  gossip 
of  various  kinds.  See  Wilkins,  article 
"  Acta,"  Dictionary  of  Greek  and  Roman 
Antiquities. 


OotaofA«gw*w 


Lhria,  wearing  the  Palia.  Julia. 

CHAPTER  IV. 

FAMILY  OF   AUGUSTUS   AND  HIS  PLANS  TO  FOUND  A   DYNASTY. 

§  1.  Tasks  of  Augustas.  §  2.  His  marriages.  Livia.  The  political  im- 
portance of  the  imperial  house.  §  3.  The  problem  of  the  succession. 
The  consors  imperil.  Position  of  Agrippa.  §  4.  First  plan  of  Augustus. 
Marcellus  and  Julia.  Illness  of  Augustus.  Death  of  Marcellus. 
§  5.  Second  plan  of  Augustus.  Marriage  of  Agrippa  and  Julia. 
Death  of  Agrippa.  §  6.  Marriage  of  Tiberius  and  Julia.  Position  of 
Tiberius.  Gaius  and  Lucius  Caesar.  §  7.  Depravity  of  Julia.  Her 
banishment.  Third  plan  of  Augustus.  Tiberius  becomes  the  consort 
of  the  Emperor  and  is  marked  out  as  his  successor. 

§  1.  WHILE  Augustus  was  constructing  the  new  constitution  he 
had  many  tasks  of  other  kinds — administrative,  military,  and 
diplomatic — to  perform.  He  had  to  regulate  the  relations  of  the 
Roman  state  with  neighbouring  powers  in  the  East;  he  had  to 
secure  the  northern  frontier  of  the  empire  on  the  Rhine  and  the 
Danube  against  the  German  barbarians,  and  carry  out  there  the 
work  begun  by  Caasar  his  father.  He  had  to  improve  the  adminis- 


4tf  THE  FAMILY  OF   AUGUSTUS.  CHAP.  IV. 

tration  in  Italy  and  Rome,  and  step  in  if  the  senate  of  the  Empire 
failed  to  perform  its  duties ;  he  had  to  reform  the  provincial 
administration  which  had  been  so  disgracefully  managed  by  the 
senate  of  the  Republic.  Besides  this  he  had  to  make  his  own 
position  safe  by  keeping  his  fellow-citizens  content;  he  had  to  see 
that  the  nobles  and  the  people  were  provided  with  employment  and 
amusement.  Finally  he  had  to  look  for  war.  1  into  the  future,  and 
take  measures  to  ensure  the  permanence  of  the  system  which  he 
had  called  into  being. 

This  last  task  of  Augustus,  his  plans  and  his  disappointments  in 
the  choice  of  a  successor  to  his  power,  will  form  the  subject  of  the 
present  chapter.  It  is  needful,  first  of  all,  to  obtain  a  clear  view  of 
his  family  relationships. 

§  2.  Augustus  was  married  three  times.  (1)  He  had  been  be- 
trothed to  a  d  mghter  of  P.  Servilius  Isauricus,  but  political  motives 
induced  him  to  abandon  this  alliance  and  marry  Clodia,  daughter 
of  Fulvia,  in  order  to  seal  a  reconciliation  with  her  stepfather 
M.  Antonius.  In  consequence,  however,  of  a  quarrel  with  her 
mother,  he  put  her  away  before  the  marriage  was  consummated. 
(2)  His  second  wife  was  Scribonia,  twice  a  widow,  whom  he 
also  married  for  political  reasons,  namely,  in  order  to  conciliate 
Sextus  Pompeius,  whose  father-in-law,  Scribonius  Libo,  was 
Scribonia's  brother.  By  her  one  child  was  born  to  him  in  39  B.C., 
unluckily  a  daughter ;  fix,  had  it  been  a  son,  much  anxiety  and 
sorrow  might  have  been  spared  him.  Her  name  was  Julia.  He 
divorced  Scribonia  in  order  to  marry  (3)  Livia,  the  widow  of 
Tiberius  Claudius  Nero  (38  B.C).  Livia  was  herself  a  daughter 
of  the  Claudian  house,  for  her  father,  M.  Livius  Drusus  Clau- 
dianus,  was,  as  his  name  shows,  a  Claudius  adopted  into  the 
Livian  gens.  She  was  a  beautiful  and  talented  woman  whom  he 
truly  loved ;  and  it  was  a  sore  disappointment  to  him  that  they 
had  no  children. 

Livia,  however,  brought  her  husband  two  stepsons :  Tiberius 
Claudius  Nero  (born  in  42  B.C.)  and  Nero  Claudius  Drusus,  born  in 
38  B.C.,  after  her  marriage  with  Augustus,  and  suspected  to  be  really 
his  son. 

Besides  his  daughter  Julia  and  his  wife  Livia,  another  woman 
possessed  great  influence  with  the  Emperor  and  played  an  important 
part  in  the  affairs  of  the  time.  This  was  his  sister  Octavia.  She 
was  married  twice,  first  to  C.  Claudius  Marcellus,  and  secondly,  for 
political  reasons,  to  M.  Antonius.  By  her  first  marriage  she  had  a 
son,  M.  Claudius  Marcellus  (born  43  B.C.),  and  a  daughter 
Marcella. 

It  is  necessary  to  say  a  word  here  about  the  political  position  of 


42  B.O.  IMPERIAL  COJNttOKTS.  47 

the  Emi>eror'8  kindred.  The  imperial  house  embraced :  the  male  and 
female  descendants  in  male  (agnatic)  line  from  the  founder  of  the 
d  \nasty;  the  wife  of  the  Emperor;  and  the  wives  of  the  male  de- 
scendants. Thus  Livia  and  Julia  belonged  to  the  house  of  Augustus, 
but  Octavia  did  not  belong  to  it,  nor  Julia's  children,  until  Augustus 
adopted  them.  The  distinctive  privilege  possessed  by  members  of  the 
imperial  house  was  that  they  were  inviolable  and  sacrosanct  like  the 
tribunes.  This  right  dated  from  the  triumviral  period,  and  thus  is 
explained  how  it  was  that  Octavia,  though  not  one  of  the  imperial 
house,  possessed  tribunician  sacrosanctity.  She  hnd  acquired  it  not 
as  the  sister  of  Caesar,  but  as  the  wife  of  Antonius.  Soon  it  became 
the  custom  for  the  soldiers  to  take  an  oath  of  fidelity  to  the  "  whole 
house  of  the  Ca3sars ; "  but  this  custom  hardly  existed  under 
Augustus  himself.*  Under  the  first  Princeps  the  members  of  his 
house  enjoyed  few  honours  and  privileges,  compared  with  those 
which  were  acquired  by  them  in  later  reigns. 

§  3.  It  has  been  already  seen  that  constitutionally  the  Emperor 
has  no  voice  in  appointing  a  successor  to  the Princi pate  ;  for  neither 
designation  nor  heredity  was  recognised.  Augustus  had  to  find  a 
practical  way  for  escaping  this  constitutional  principle,  and  secur- 
ing that  the  system  which  he  founded  should  not  come  to  an  end 
on  his  own  death  and  that  he  should  have  a  capable  successor. 
The  plan  which  he  adopted  was  an  institution  which  had  no 
official  name,  but  which  was  equivalent  to  a  co-regency.  He 
appointed  a  "consort"  in  the  imperial  power.  There  was  no  con- 
stitutional difficulty  in  this.  The  institution  of  collegia!  power 
was  familiar  to  Roman  law  and  Roman  practice  ;  and  the  two 
elements  of  the  imperial  authority — the  imperium  and  the  tribu- 
nician power— could  be  held  by  more  than  one.  But,  at  the  same 
time,  the  consort  was  not  the  peer  of  the  Emperor ;  he  could  only  be 
subsidiary.  There  could  be  only  one  Princeps,  only  one  Augustus. 
In  fact,  the  consort  held,  in  relation  to  the  Augustus,  somewhat  the 
same  position  as  the  prastor  held  to  the  consul. 

Thus  from  the  necessity  for  making  practical  provision  for  the 
succession  arose  certain  extraordinary  magistracies, — proconsular 
and  tribunician  offices,  which  held  a  middle  place  between  the 
Princeps  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  ordinary  magistrates  on  the 
other.  On  the  death  of  the  Princeps,  the  consort  would  have  a 
practical,  though  not  a  legal  claim,  to  be  elected  Princeps,  and 
nothing  short  of  revolution  would,  as  a  rule,  hinder  him  from 
obtaining  the  highest  position  in  the  state. 

The  proconsular  command  was  first  conferred  on  the  consort, 
"he  tribunician  power  subsequently.  Under  Augustus  both  powers 
*  I*  seems  to  have  existed  to  the  time  of  Nero 


48  THE  FAMILY  OF  AUGUSTUS.          CHAP.  IT. 

were  conferred  for  a  limited  number  of  years,  but  always  for  more 
than  one  year,  which  was  the  defined  period  for  the  ordinary 
magistracies.  The  consort  had  not  command  over  the  troops, 
like  the  Emperor,  but  it  was  common  to  assign  him  some  special 
command.  He  did  not  bear  the  title  of  Imperator,  and  he  did 
not  wear  the  laurel  wreath.  Nor  was  he  included  in  the  yearly 
vows  which  were  offered  up  for  the  Emperor.  But  he  had  the 
right  to  set  up  his  statues,  and  his  image  appeared  on  coins. 

Anyone  might  be  selected  as  consort.  But  it  was  only  natural 
that  the  Emperor  should  select  his  son  for  that  position,  and  thus 
it  became  ultimately  the  recognised  custom  that  the  Emperor's 
son  should  become  his  consort.  By  this  means  the  danger  of 
elevating  a  subject  so  near  the  imperial  throne  was  avoided,  and 
the  natural  leaning  of  a  sovran  towards  the  foundation  of  a 
dynasty  was  satisfied.  When  the  Emperor  had  no  children,  he 
used  to  adopt  into  his  family  whomsoever  he  chose  as  his  successor, 
and  the  danger  of  such  a  course  was  mitigated  by  the  paternal 
power  which  he  possessed  over  his  adopted  son. 

It  was  some  time,  however,  before  this  usage  became  a  stereo- 
typed part  of  the  imperial  system.  The  first  consort  of  Augustus 
was  Agrippa,  who  married  his  niece  Marcella.  The  proconsular 
imperium  was  conferred  on  Agrippa,  some  time  before  22  B.C., 
but  Augustus  had  certainly  no  intention  that  Agrippa  should  be 
his  successor.  He  was  compelled  to  assign  a  distinguished  position 
to  his  invaluable  and  ambitious  coadjutor, — to  take  him  into  a  sort 
of  partnership, — in  order  to  secure  his  cheerful  service.  But  cir- 
cumstances brought  it  about  that  he  came  to  be  regarded,  if  not  as 
the  probable  successor,  yet  as  something  very  like  it. 

§  4.  As  Livia  proved  unfruitful,  Augustus  had  to  look  else- 
where for  a  successor.  Within  his  own  family  three  choices  were 
open  to  him.  Though  he  had  no  sons,  he  might  at  least  have  a 
grandson  by  the  marriage  of  his  daughter  Julia.  Or  he  might 
select  his  sister's  son  *  as  his  heir  and  successor.  Or  he  might 
adopt  his  Claudian  step-children. 

His  first  plan,  the  marriage  of  the  young  Marcellus  with  Julia, 
combined  two  of  these  courses.  The  Empire  might  thus  descend 
through  a  nephew  to  grand-children.  High  hopes  were  formed 
of  Marcellus,  who  was  attractive  and  popular  and  a  great  favourite 
of  his  uncle.  The  marriage  was  celebrated  in  25  B.C.,  during  the 
absence  of  Augustus  in  Spain,  where  he  suffered  from  a  severe 
illness,  and  Agrippa,  the  brother-in-law  of  the  bridegroom,  was 
called  upon  to  act  as  the  father  of  the  bride.  In  the  following 
year,  Marcellus  was  elected  curule  aedile,  and  a  decree  of  the  senate 

*  Octavia  had  also  children  by  Anton  i  u«,  but  they  seem  to  hare  been  out  of  tb«  question 


S8B.C.       FIBST  DYNASTIC  PLAN   OF   AUGUSTUS.          49 

allowed  him  to  stand  as  candidate  for  the  consulship  ten  years 
before  the  legal  age.  At  the  same  time  Augustus  allowed  his 
stepson  Tiberius  to  be  elected  quaestor,  though  he  was  even 
younger  than  Marcellus;  and  this  perhaps  was  a  concession  to 
Livia,  who  may  have  felt  jealous  of  the  son  of  Octavia  and  the 
daughter  of  Scribonia. 

But  there  was  another  who  certainly  felt  jealous  of  the  favour 
shown  to  Marcellus,  and  regarded  him  as  an  unwelcome  rival. 
This  was  Agrippa.  He  had  entered,  as  we  have  seen,  into  affinity 
with  the  imperial  family  by  his  marriage  with  Marcella ;  he  had 
been  consul,  as  the  Emperor's  colleague  for  two  successive  years. 
If  Augustus  was  the  Princeps,  men  were  inclined  to  look  upon 
Agrippa  as  the  second  citizen ;  anil  in  the  East,  where  political 
facts  were  often  misinterpreted,  he  was  actually  thought  to  be  an 
equal  co-regent  with  the  Emperor.  He  was  not  popular,  like  his 
young  brother-in-law,  but  he  was  universally  respected;  his 
services  were  recognised,  and  his  abilities  were  esteemed ;  and  he 
had  every  reason  to  cherish  ambitious  aspirations.  Augustus  had 
left  Borne  in  27  B.O.  in  order  to  devote  his  attention  to  the  adminis- 
tration of  Gaul  and  Spain.  During  his  absence,  which  lasted 
until  24  BXX,  there  were  no  disturbances  in  Rome,  although  he  left 
no  formal  representative  to  take  his  place.  This  tranquillity  must 
have  been  partly  due  to  the  personal  influence  of  Agrippa,  who 
lived  at  Borne  during  these  years,  though  not  filling  an  official 
post* 

In  23  B.C.,  the  year  of  his  eleventh  consulate,  Augustus  was 
stricken  down  by  another  illness,  and  he  seems  to  have  entertained 
some  idea  of  abdicating  the  imperial  power.  He  summoned  his 
colleague,  the  consul  Piso,  to  his  bedside,  and  gave  him  a  document 
containing  a  list  of  the  military  forces,  and  an  account  of  the 
finances,  of  the  Empire.  This  act  of  Augustus  displays  the  con- 
stitutional principle,  that  when  the  Emperor  died,  the  imperial 
power  passed  into  the  keeping  of  the  senate  and  the  chief  magis- 
trates. But  Augustus,  although  he  could  not  appoint,  could  at 
least  recommend,  a  successor ;  and  it  is  to  his  honour  that  he  did 
not  attempt  to  forward  the  interests  of  his  family  at  the  expense  of 
the  interests  of  the  state.  Marcellus  was  still  very  young,  and  his 
powers  were  unproved.  Augustus  gave  his  signet-ring  to  Agrippa, 
thus  making  it  clear  whom  he  regarded  as  the  one  man  in  the 
Empire  capable  of  carrying  on  the  work  which  he  had  begun.  But 
Augustus  was  not  to  die  yet.  He  was  healed  by  the  skill  of  the 
famous  physician  Antonius  Musa.  On  his  recovery,  he  learned 

But  Mommsen  holds  that  the  proconsular  imperlum  was  conferred  on  Agrippa 


50  THE  FAMILY  OF  AUGUSTUS.          CHAP.  it. 

that  his  illness  had  been  the  occasion  of  unfriendly  collisions 
between  Agrippa  and  Marcellus.  While  Marcellus  naturally  built 
hopes  on  his  marriage  with  Julia,  Asrippa  was  elated  by  the 
conspicuous  mark  of  confidence  which  the  Emperor  had  shown  in 
him  at  such  a  critical  moment.  Augustus,  therefore,  thought  it 
wise  to  separate  them,  and  he  assigned  to  Agrippa  an  honourable 
mission  to  the  eastern  provinces  of  the  Empire,  for  the  purpose 
of  regulating  important  affairs  in  connection  with  Armenia.  The 
proconsular  imperiu-n  was  probably  conferred  on  him  at  this 
time.  Agrippa  went  as  far  as  Lesbos,  but  no  further,  and  issued 
his  orders  from  that  island.  His  friends  said  that  this  course 
was  due  to  his  moderation;  others  suspected  that  he  was 
sulky,  and  it  is  clear  that  he  understood  the  true  meaning  of 
his  mission. 

But  an  unexpected  and  untoward  event  suddenly  frustrated  the 
plan  which  Augustus  had  made  for  the  succession,  and  removed 
the  cause  of  the  jealousy  of  Agrippa.  Towards  the  end  of  the 
same  year,  Marcellus  was  attacked  by  malaria  at  Baiee,  and  the 
skill  which  cured  his  father-in-law  did  not  avail  for  him.  He 
was  buried  in  the  great  mausoleum  which  Augustus  had  erected 
some  years  before  in  the  Campus  Martius,  as  a  resting-place  for 
his  family.  The  name  of  Marcellus  was  preserved  in  a  splendid 
theatre  which  his  uncle  dedicated  to  his  memory ;  but  the  lines  in 
Virgil's  -/Eneid*  proved  a  more  lasting  monument.  The  story 
is  told  that  Octavia  fainted  when  she  heard  them  recited,  and 
that  the  poet  received  ten  thousand  sesterces  (about  £80)  for 
each  line. 

§  5.  Augustus  had  now  to  form  another  plan,  and  it  might  be 
thought  that  the  influence  of  Livia  would  have  fixed  his  choice  on 
one  of  her  sons.  But  his  hopes  were  bound  up  in  Julia,  and  he 
now  selected  Agrippa  as  husband  for  the  widow  of  Marcellus. 
The  fact  that  Agrippa  was  married  to  her  sister-in-law  Marcella, 
and  had  children  by  this  marriage,  was  no  obstacle  in  the  eyes  of 
the  man  who  had  so  lightly  divorced  Scribonia.  Agrippa  had 
put  away  his  first  wife  Pomponia  to  marry  the  niece  of  Augustus, 
and  he  was  not  likely  to  grumble  now  at  having  to  sacrifice  the 
niece  for  the  sake  of  the  daughter.  Augustus  set  forth  in  22  B.C. 
to  visit  the  eastern  provinces.  He  stayed  during  the  winter  in 

*  Bk.  vi.    860  sqq.,  ending  with  the  |  Purpureos  spargam  flores  animamqne 

lines :—  nepotis 

Heu  miserande  puer,  si  qua  fata  aspera  His  saltern  adcutnulem  donis  et  fungar 

rumpus,  inani 

Tu  Marcellus  eria.    Manibus  data  lilia  Munere. 

plenis,  SOP  also  Pn.pertius.  ii.  16,  where  Bate 

is  mentioned. 


JD-11  B.O.  SECOND  DYNASTIC  PLAN.  51 

Sicily,  and  while  he  was  there  a  sedition  broke  out  in  Rome,  owing 
to  a  struggle  between  Q.  Lepidus  and  M.  Silanus  in  their  candi- 
dature for  consulship.  This  incident  seems  to  have  determined 
Augustus  to  carry  out  his  project  of  uniting  Agrippa  and  Julia 
without  delay.  He  recalled  Agrippa  from  the  east,  caused  the 
marriage  to  be  celebrated,  and  consigned  to  him  the  administration 
of  Borne  and  the  west  during  his  own  absence  in  the  east  (early  in 
21  B.C.).  It  is  said  that  Maecenas  advised  his  master  that  Agrippa 
had  risen  too  high,  if  he  did  not  rise  still  higher,  and  that  there 
were  only  two  safe  alternatives,  his  marriage  with  Julia,  or  his 
death. 

In  October  19  B.C.  Augustus  returned  to  Rome,  and  in  the 
following  year  received  a  new  grant  of  the  proconsular  imperium 
for  five  years.  At  the  same  time  he  caused  the  tribunician  power 
to  be  conferred  for  five  years  on  Agrippa,  who  was  thus  raised  a 
step  nearer  the  Princeps.  The  marriage  of  Julia  and  Agrippa  was 
fruitful.  Two  sons  and  two  daughters  were  born  hi  the  lifetime 
of  Agrippa,  and  another  son  after  his  death.  In  17  B.C.  Augustus 
adopted  Gams  and  Lucius,  his  grandsons,  into  the  family  of  Caesar, 
and  it  seems  clear  that  he  regarded  Gains  and  Lucius  Caesar  as  his 
successors,  and  their  father  Agrippa  as  no  more  than  their  guardian. 
But  if  so,  it  was  necessary  to  strengthen  the  guardian's  hands, 
and  when  Agrippa's  tribunician  power  lapsed,  it  was  renewed  for 
another  five  years. 

But  Augustus  was  destined  to  survive  his  second  son-in-law  as 
he  had  survived  bis  first.  Agrippa  died  in  Campania  in  12  B.C. 
at  the  age  of  fifty-one,  and  was  laid  like  Marcellus  in  the  mauso- 
leum of  Augustus.*  The  Emperor's  sister  Octavia  died  in  the 
following  year. 

§  6.  The  death  of  the  consort  did  not  interfere  with  the  plan  for 
the  succession,  but  he  was  a  great  loss  to  Augustus,  whose  weak 
health  rendered  him  unequal  to  bearing  the  burden  of  the  Empire 
alone.  The  tender  age  of  Gaius  and  Lucius  Caesar  required  a 
protector  in  case  any  thing  should  happen  to  their  grandfather  before 
they  had  reached  man's  estate.  Augustus  accordingly  united 
his  elder  stepson  Tiberius  with  Julia  (11  B.C.),  and  thus  con- 
stituted him  the  natural  protector  of  the  two  young  Cassars.  For 
this  purpose  Tiberius  was  obliged,  much  against  his  will,  to  divorce 
his  wife  Vips  mia  Agrippina,  by  whom  he  had  a  son  named  Drusus. 
This  Agrippina  was  the  daughter  of  Agrippa  by  his  first  wife 
Pomponia  (daughter  of  Pom  nonius  Atticus,  the  friend  of  Cicero). 
Thus  Tiberius  put  away  Agrippa's  daughter  in  order  to  marry  his 

*  «  Condidit  Agrippam  quo  to,  Marcelle,  sepulchre,"  is  a  line  la  the  Oonsolatw  oA 
Liviaan  (67). 


52 


THE  FAMILY  OP  AUGUSTUS. 


CHAP.  iv. 


widow.  No  statesman  perhaps  has  ever  gone  further  than 
Augustus  in  carrying  out  a  cold-blooded  method  of  uniting  and 
divorcing  for  the  sake  of  dynastic  calculations.  His  younger  step- 
son Drusus  had  been  likewise  drawn  closer  to  the  imperial  family 
by  marriage  with  Antonia,  daughter  of  Octavia,  and  niece  of  the 
Emperor. 

Tiberius  and  Drusus  had  already  performed  important  public 
services,  and  gained  great  military  distinction  by  the  subjugation 
of  Raetia  and  Vindelicia  (15  B.C.).  *  In  12  B.C.  and  the  following 
years  they  had  again  opportunity  for  displaying  their  unusual 
abilities,  Tiberius  in  reducing  rebellious  tribes  in  Pannonia,  and 
Drusus  in  warfare  with  the  Germans  beyond  the  Rhine.  The 
death  of  Drusus  in  9  B.C.  was  a  great  blow  to  Augustus,  who  had 
really  "paternal  feelings"  for  him  but  never  cared  for  Tiberius 
But  he  could  hardly  have  found  a  more  capable  helper  in  the 
administration  than  his  elder  stepson.  Tiberius  was  grave  and 
reserved  in  manner,  cautious  and  discreet  from  his  earliest  years, 
indisposed  to  conciliate  friendship,  and  compelled  to  dissemble  by 
the  circumstances  in  which  he  was  placed.  But  he  was  an  excellent 
man  of  business  and  as  a  general  he  wa*  trusted  by  the  soldiers, 
and  always  led  them  to  victory.  He  became  consul  in  13  B.C., 
at  the  age  of  twenty-nine.  Augustus  raised  him  to  the  same 
position  to  which  he  had  raised  Agrippa.  He  granted  him  the  pro- 
consular imperium  first  (about  9  B.C.),  and  three  years  later  the 
tribunician  power.  In  this  policy  he  was  doubtless  influenced  not 
only  by  the  merits  of  Tiberius,  but  by  the  influence  of  Livia,  to 
whom  he  granted  the  ius  trium  liberorum  in  9  B.c.f  On  receiving 
the  tribunician  power,  Tiberius  was  charged  with  a  special  com- 
mission to  the  East,  to  suppress  a  revolt  which  had  broken  out  in 
Armenia.  He  had  doubtless  hoped  that  his  step-father  would  adopt 
him.  But  he  saw  that  he  was  destined  by  Augustus  to  be  the 
guardian  of  the  future  Emperors,  rather  than  a  future  Emperor  him- 
self, that  he  was  consort  indeed  of  the  Princeps,  but  was  not 
intended  to  be  the  successor.  He  was  too  proud  to  relish  this 
postponement  to  his  step-children,  and  instead  of  undertaking  the 
commission,  he  retired  into  exile  at  Rhodes.  In  the  following 
year  C.  Caesar  assumed  the  toga  virilis.  He  also  became  a  consul 
designate.  Four  years  later  he  received  the  proconsular  imperinm 


*  Horace,  in  the  Ode  (iv.  4)  in  which 
he  celebrates  these  achievements,  gives 
credit  to  Augustus  for  their  education  in 
the  military  art.  L.  22  sqq.:— 

Diu 
Lateque  Yictrices  catenrse 


Consiliis  iuvenis  revictse 
Sensere  quid  raens  rite,  quid  indolet 
Nutrita  faustis  sub  penetral;bus 
Posset,  quid  Augusti  paternus 

In  pueros  animus  Nerones. 
t  See  below,  Chap.  V.  $  2. 


15-2  B.C.  JULIA.  53 

and  a  special  commission  to  Armenia.  1  A.D.  was  the  year  of  his 
consulship. 

The  succession  now  seemed  safe.  L.  Caesar  had  assumed  the 
gown  of  manhood  in  2  B.C.  so  that  the  Julian  dynasty  had  two 
pillars.  The  Roman  knights  had  proclaimed  Gaius  and  Lucius 
principes  iuventutis,  an  honour  which  seemed  to  mark  them  out  as 
destined  to  become  principes  in  a  higher  sense.  From  this  time 
forward  the  title  princeps  iuventutis  came  to  be  formally  equivalent 
to  a  designation  of  a  successor  to  the  Principate,  who  was  still  too 
young  to  enter  the  senate.  But  fortune  was  adverse  to  the  plans 
of  Augustus.  Lucius  died  at  Massilia  in  2  A.D.  and  two  years  later 
Grains  received  a  wound  at  the  siege  of  Artagira  and  died  in  Lycia 
(4  A.D.).  Thus  the  hopes  which  Augustus  had  cherished  during 
the  past  twenty  years  fell  to  the  ground. 

§  7.  But  the  death  of  his  grandchildren  was  not  the  only  mis- 
fortune which  befel  Augustus.  The  depravity  of  his  daughter  was 
even  a  more  grievous  blow.  The  licentious  excesses  of  Julia  were 
the  talk  of  the  city,  and  were  known  to  all  before  they  reached  the 
ears  of  her  father.  She  had  long  been  unfaithful  to  her  husband 
Tiberius,  and  his  retirement  to  Rhodes — though  mainly  a  mani- 
festation of  antagonism  between  the  step-son  and  the  grandsons  of 
the  Emperor — may  have  been  partly  due  to  his  estrangement  from 
her.  But  at  length  her  profligacy  became  so  open  that  it 
could  no  longer  be  hidden  from  the  Emperor.  She  is  even  said 
to  have  traversed  the  streets  by  night  in  riotous  company,  and  her 
orgies  were  performed  in  the  forum  or  on  the  rostra.  In  short, 
to  quote  the  words  of  a  contemporary,  "in  lust  and  luxury  she 
omitted  no  deed  of  shame  that  a  woman  could  do  or  suffer,  and 
she  measured  the  greatness  of  her  fortune  by  the  licence  it  afforded 
for  sin."  The  wrath  of  Augustus,  when  he  learned  the  conduct  of 
his  daughter,  knew  no  bounds.  He  formally  communicated  to  the 
senate  an  account  of  her  acts.  He  banished  her  to  the  barren 
island  of  Pandateria  off  the  coast  of  Campania  (2  B.C.),  whither  her 
mother  Scribonia  voluntarily  attended  her,  and  no  intercession  on  the 
part  of  the  people  induced  him  to  forgive  her.  Her  lovers — Claudii, 
Scipiones,  Sempronii,  and  Quinctii — were  exiled ;  but  one  of  them 
Julius  Antonius  (son  of  M.  Antonius  and  Fulvia),  whom  Augustus 
had  spared  after  Actium  and  always  treated  with  kindness,  was  put 
to  death,  on  the  charge  that  he  had  corrupted  the  daughter  in  order 
to  conspire  against  the  father.  Rumour  said  that  Livia,  scheming 
in  the  interests  of  herself  and  Tiberius,  had  a  hand  in  bringing 
about  the  misfortunes  which  fell  upon  the  family  of  Augustas; 
but  there  is  no  evidence  whatever  that  such  was  the  case. 

The  other  children  of  Julia  and  Agrippa  could  not  replace  Baius 


54  THE  FAMILY  OF  AUGUSTUS.          CHAP,  iv 

and  Lucius.  Agrippa  Postutnus  showed  such  a  bad  and  froward 
disposition  that  Augustus  could  build  few  hopes  on  him.  The 
younger  Julia  proved  a  profligate,  like  her  mother.  There  remained 
Agrippina,  who  had  married  within  the  imperial  family,  and  did  not 
disgrace  it.  Drusus,  the  brother  of  Tiberius,  had  wedded  the 
younger  Antonia,  daughter  of  Octavia  and  M.  Antonius.  Of  this 
marriage  Germanicus  was  born,  and  Augustus  selected  him  as  a 
husband  for  Agrippina.  The  Emperor  thus  united  his  grandnephew 
with  his  granddaughter,  as  he  had  before  united  his  nephew  with 
his  daughter. 

In  deciding  the  question  of  the  succession  Augustus  was  obliged 
to  have  recourse  to  Tiberius,  yet  not  so  as  to  exclude  Germanicus,  or 
even  to  deprive  the  young  Agrippa  of  all  hopes.  After  the  banish- 
ment of  Julia,  Tiberius  had  wished,  but  had  not  been  permitted,  to 
return  to  Rome.  He  is  said  to  have  spent  his  time  at  Rhodes  in 
the  study  of  astrology.  In  2  A.D.  he  was  at  length  permitted  to 
leave  his  place  of  exile,  and  during  the  two  following  years  he  lived 
at  Rome  in  retirement,  until,  in  consequence  of  the  death  of  Gaiu^ 
he  was  called  upon  to  take  part  again  in  public  life.  On  June  27, 
4  A.D.,  Augustus  adopted  both  Tiberius  and  Agrippa  Postumus, 
and  caused  the  tribunician  power  to  be  conferred  for  ten  years 
on  Tiberius,  who  was  sent  forthwith  to  conduct  a  campaign  in 
Germany.  At  the  same  tune  Tiberius  was  required  to  adopt  his 
nephew  Germanicus.  As  for  Agrippa,  he  soon  ceased  to  be  a 
possible  rival.  His  conduct  was  such  that  Augustus  was  obliged 
to  banish  him  to  the  island  of  Planasia. 

Thus,  after  the  frustration  of  many  plans,  Augustus  was  in  the  end 
compelled  to  recognise  as  his  son  and  heir  the  aspirant  whom  he 
liked  least,  but  who  was  perhaps  fitter  than  any  of  the  others  to 
wield  the  power.  When  he  adopted  Tiberius,  he  expressed  his 
feelings  in  the  words :  Hoc  reipublicss  causa  fado,  "  I  do  this  for 
the  sake  of  the  republic.'* 

Nine  years  later  (13  A.D.)*  Tiberius  was  raised  higher  than  any 
previous  consort.  It  was  enacted  by  a  special  law  (lex),  introduced 
by  the  consuls,  that  he  should  have  proconsular  power  in  all  the 
provinces  and  over  all  the  armies,  co-ordinate  with  the  proconsular 
power  of  his  "  father,"  and  that  he  should  hold  a  census  in  con- 
junction with  Augustus.  It  is  significant  that  the  proconsular 
power  was  conferred  by  a  law.  In  all  previous  cases,  Augustus 
had  bestowed  it  by  virtue  of  his  own  proconsular  imperium.  But 
now  the  power  of  Tiberius  in  the  provinces  is  no  longer  secondary, 
but  is  co-ordinate  with,  and  limits,  that  of  Augustus  himself,  and 
does  not  expire  with  the  death  of  Augustus.  It  is  therefore 
*  11  AJ>.  according  to  MomiUMQ. 


18  A.D.       THIBD  DYNASTIC  PLAN — TIBERIUS.  55 

conferred  by  a  lex.  At  the  same  time  Tiberius  received  a  renewal 
of  the  tribunician  power,  no  longer  for  a  limited  period,  but  for 
life ;  and  the  senate  selected  him  to  hold  the  foremost  place  in 
the  senatorial  committee,  which  at  "he  request  of  Augustus  had 
been  appointed  to  represent  the  whole  senate.* 

*  see  above,' 'hap.  I1M  a 


56 


DESCENDANTS  OF  AUGUSTUS. 


11 


JJ , 

ilf-B  - 


II- 


Is,  I 

-IdSf 


151 


—  300  — 

.^  pa 


j 

-^ 

I 

-3 


Hi 


-II 


II- 


DESCENDANTS  OF  OCTAVIA. 


57 


t 


•-ll 


H--I 


—  88 

53 


ll-i 


58 


THE  OLAUDIAN   HOUSE. 


Arch  of  Augustas  at  Rimini. 


CHAPTER  V. 

ADMINISTRATION  OF  AUGUSTUS  IN  ROME  AND  ITALY.      ORGANISATION 
OF  THE  ARMY. 

§  1.  Maecenas.  Conspiracies  against  Augustus.  Public  prosperity. 
§  2.  Revival  and  maintenance  of  public  religion.  Temples.  Legis- 
lation against  immorality.  Encouragement  to  marriage.  Lex  Julia 
de  adulteriis.  Secular  games.  Policy  in  regard  to  the  tibertini.  §  3. 
New  offices  at  Rome.  Cura  annonse.  Prsefectus  vigilum;  cwra 
operum  publicorum  ;  euro,  aquarum.  §  4.  Prsefectus  urbi.  §  5.  Italy. 
Cura  viarum.  Eleven  regions.  The  imperial  post.  §  6.  The 
Augustales.  The  libertini  in  Italy.  §  7.  Organisation  of  the  army. 
The  legions  and  auxilia.  §  8.  The  prsetorian  guards.  The  imperial 
fleet. 

SECT.  I. — RELIGIOUS  AND  SOCIAL  REFORMS  OF  AUGUSTUS. 

§  1.  AUGUSTUS  sought  to  secure  his  government  by  conciliating  the 
higher  classes  and  keeping  the  populace  amused.  In  these  aims  he 
may  be  said  to  have  succeeded.  His  government  on  the  whole 
was  popular,  and  people  were  content.  His  policy,  constantly 
guided  by  Mascenas,  was  liberal  and  humane,  and  that  minister 
found  means  to  secure  the  safety  of  his  master  without  the  help 
of  informers  or  spies.  The  Romans  regarded  Maecenas  as  an  ideal 
minister,  and  by  his  death  in  8  B.C.  the  Emperor  lost  a  councillor 


60  ADMINISTRATION   OF  AUGUSTUS.        CHAP.  v. 

whose  tact  and  insight  could  not  easily  be  replaced.  He  is  reported 
to  have  cried  that  if  either  Agrippa  or  Meecenas  had  lived,  the 
domestic  troubles  which  darkened  the  later  years  of  his  life  would 
never  have  befallen  him. 

It  was  harder  to  conciliate  the  aristocracy  than  to  satisfy  the 
lower  classes;  and  notwithstanding  his  personal  popularity,  not- 
withstanding the  promp  ness  of  the  senate  to  fall  in  with  his  wishes 
and  accept   his  guidance,  Augustus  could  not  fill  to  perceive  a 
feeling  of  regret   for  the  Kepublic  prevailing  among  the  higher 
classes,  and  he  probably  felt  that,  if  his  own  personal  influence  were 
removed  by  death,  the  survival  of  the  Principate  would  be  very 
uncertain.     He  could  not  mistake  obsequiousness,  or  even  personal 
friendship  to  himself,  for  cheerful  acquiescence  in  the  new  system. 
His  safety  was  occasionally  threatened  by  conspiracies,  of  which  we 
have  very  little  information ;  but  they  do  not  seem  to  have  been 
really  serious.      We   need  only  mention  that  of  Fannius  Caepio 
(23  B.C.)  and  that  of  On.  Cornelius  Cinna  (4   A.D.).     Caepio's  con- 
spiracy is   remarkable  from   the  fact   that  A.   Terentius   Varro 
Murena,  who  was  colleague  of  the  Emperor  in  the  consulate,  was 
concerned  in  it.     Murena  was  the  brother  of  Proculeius,*  an  intimate 
friend  of  Augustus,  and  of  Terentia,  wife  of  Maecenas  and  reputed 
to  be  the   Kmperor's  mistress.      Augustus  took  the  matter  very 
seriously,  but  it   seems  that   the   people  were  not  convinced  of 
Murena's  guilt.     Both  Murena  and  Csepio  were  executed.     In  the 
other  case,  Cinna  and  his  associates  were  pardoned  by  the  advice 
oi  Livia,  who  perhaps  had  learned  a  lesson  from  the  clement  policy 
oi  Maecenas.     It  was  a  great  triumph  fur  Augustus  when,  in  the 
year  of  Murena's  conspiracy — the  same  year  in  which  he  was  him- 
self dangerously  ill,  and  in  which  he  gave  the  Principate  its  final 
shape — he  won  over  two  of  the  most  distinguished  men  of  repub- 
lican sentiments,  Cn.  Calpurnius  Piso  and  L.  Sestius  Quirinus,  and 
induced  them,  after  his  own  abdication  of  the  consulate  in  June,  to 
fill  that  magistracy  for  the  rest  of  the  year.     But  there  were  still 
a  certain  number  of  irreconcilables,  ready,  if  a  favourable  oppor- 
tunity offered,  to  attempt  to  restore  the  Republic. 

The  solid  foundations  of  the  general  contentment  which 
marked  the  Augustan  period  were  the  effects  of  a  long  peace ;  the 
restoration  of  credit,  the  revival  of  industry  and  commerce,  the 
expenditure  of  the  public  money  for  the  public  use,  the  promotion 
of  public  comfort  and  the  security  of  public  safety.  In  describing 
the  details  of  the  home  administration,  it  is  fitting  to  begin  with  the 
cares  which  Augustus  bestowed  on  the  revival  of  religion  and  the 
maintenance  of  the  worship  of  the  gods. 

He  who  is  described  by  Horace  as  notus  infratres  aiiimi  paterni 


27  B.o.-H  A.D.        THE  STATE  RELIGION. 


§  2.  The  priestly  duties  of  maintaining  religious  worship  in  tht 
temples  of  the  gods  devolved  properly  upon  the  patrician  families 
of  Rome.  These  families  had  been  reduced  in  number  and 
impoverished  in  the  course  of  the  civil  wars ;  an  irreligious  spirit 
had  crept  in ;  and  the  shrines  of  the  gods  had  fallen  into  decay. 
Horace,  who  saw  the  religious  revival  of  Augustus,  ascribes  the 
disasters  of  the  civil  wars  to  the  prevailing  impiety : 

Delicta  inaiorum  immeritus  lues, 
Romane,  donee  templa  refeceris.* 

We  have  already  seen  that  after  the  conquest  of  Egypt,  Augustus 
caused  a  law  to  be  passed  (the  lex  Ssenia)  for  raising  some  plebeian 
families  to  the  patrician  rank,  f  His  care  for  the  dignity  and 
maintenance  of  the  patriciate  was  closely  connected  with  his 
concern  for  the  restoration  of  the  national  worship.  He  set  the 
example  of  renewing  the  old  houses  of  the  gods,  and  building  new 
ones.  J 

Apollo,  whose  shrine  stood  near  Actium,  was  loved  by 
Augustus  above  all  other  deities,  and  the  Emperor  was  pleased  if  his 
courtiers  hinted  that  he  was  directly  inspired  by  the  <zod  of  light 
or  if  they  lowered  their  eyes  in  his  presence,  as  if  dazzled  by  some 
divine  effulgence  from  his  face.  To  this  god  he  erected  a  splendid 
temple  on  the  Palatine.  The  worship  of  the  Lares  engaged  his 
particular  attention,  and  he  built  numerous  shrines  for  them  in  the 
various  districts  of  Rome.  Many  religious  games  and  popular  feasts 
were  also  revived. 

The  state  religion,  as  reformed  by  Augustus,  was  connected  in  the 
closest  way  with  the  Principate,  and  intended  to  be  one  of  its 
bulwarks.  Divus  Julius  had  been  added  to  the  number  of  the  gods. 
The  Arval  brothers  sacrificed  for  the  welfare  of  the  Emperor  and 
his  family ;  the  college  of  the  quindecimviri  and  septemviii  oifered 
prayers  for  him  ;  and  there  were  added  to  the  calendar  new  feasts 
whose  motives  depended  on  the  new  constitution.  Moreover  the 
Princeps  was  Pontifex  Maximus,§  and  belonged  to  the  other  religious 
colleges,  in  which  members  of  his  house  were  also  usually  enrolled. 
It  has  been  remarked  that  the  vitality  of  the  old  religion  is 
clearly  illustrated  by  the  creation  of  new  deities  like  Annona, — the 
goddess  who  presided  over  the  corn-supply  on  which  imperial 
Rome  depended. 

The  restoration  of  the  worship  of  Juno  was  assigned  to  the  care 
of  Livia,  as  the  representative  of  the  matrons  of  Rome.  Not  oialy 


*  Odes,  Hi.  6. 

t  See  above,  Chap.  I.  $  5. 

J  Ovid  calls    him    templorum  posttor, 


templorum    sancte    repostor   (fbsti,   ii. 
63). 
$  See  above,  Chap.  II.  $  4. 


ADMINISTBATION   OF   AUGUSTUS. 


CHAP.  v. 


had  the  shrines  of  that  goddess  been  neglected,  but  the  social 
institution  over  which  she  specially  presided  had  gone  out  of 
fashion.  Along  with  the  growth  of  luxury  and  immorality  there 
had  grown  up  a  disinclination  to  marriage.  Celibacy  was  the 
order  of  the  day,  and  the  number  of  Roman  citizens  declined. 
Measures  enforcing  or  encouraging  wedlock  had  often  been  taken  by 
censors,  but  they  did  not  avail  to  check  the  evil.  Augustus  made 
the  attempt  to  break  the  stubbornness  of  his  fellow-citizens  at 
first  by  penalties  (18  B.C.)  and  afterwards  by  rewards.  A  lex  de 
maritandis  ordinibus  was  passed,  regulating  marriages  and  divorces, 
and  laying  various  penalties  both  on  those  who  did  not  marry  and 
on  those  who,  married,  had  no  children.  An  unmarried  man 
was  disqualified  from  receiving  legacies,  and  the  married  man 
who  was  childless  was  fined  half  of  every  legacy.  These  unlucky 
ones  were  also  placed  at  a  disadvantage  in  competition  for  public 
offices.  Nearly  thirty  years  later  (9  A.D.),  another  law,  the  lex 
Papia  Poppaea,  established  a  system  of  rewards.  The  father  of  three 
children  at  Rome,  was  relieved  of  a  certain  portion  of  the  public 
burdens,  was  not  required  to  perform  the  duties  of  a  judex  or  a 
guardian,  and  was  given  preference  in  standing  for  magistracies. 
These  privileges  were  called  the  ius  trium  Uberorum.  The  same 
privileges  were  granted  to  fathers  of  four  children  in  Italy,  or  of 
five  in  the  provinces.  Augustus  also  (18  B.C.)  tried  to  enforce 
marriage  indirectly  by  laying  new  penalties  on  licentiousness.  The 
lex  Julia  de  adulteriis  et  de  pudicitia,  made  adultery  a  public 
offence ;  whereas  before  it  could  only  be  dealt  with  as  a  private 
wrong.  No  part  of  the  policy  of  Augustus  was  so  unpopular  as 
these  laws  concerning  marriage.  They  were  strenuously  resisted 
by  all  classes,  and  evaded  in  every  possible  way.  Yet  perhaps 
they  produced  some  effect.  Certainly  the  population  of  Roman 
citizens  increased  considerably  between  28  and  8  B.C.,  and  still 
more  strikingly  between  the  latter  date  and  14  A.D.  ;  *  but  this 
increase  might  be  accounted  for  by  the  general  wellbeing  of  the 
age,  quite  apart  from  artificial  incentives. 

In  the  year  17  B.C. — ten  years  after  the  foundation  of  the 
Principate — Augustus  celebrated  Ludi  Sseculares,  which  were 
supposed  to  be  celebrated  every  hundred  (or  hundred  and  ten)  years. 
It  was  thus  a  ceremony  which  no  citizen  had  ever  beheld  before  and 
which  none — according  to  rule — should  ever  behold  again.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  however,  many  of  those  who  saw  the  secular  games- 
of  Augustus  were  destined  to  see  the  same  ceremony  repeated  by 


*  la  28  B.C.  the  number  was  4,063,000, 
in  8  B.C.  4,233,000,  in  14  A.D.  4,937,000. 
TV**  numbers  are  taken  from  the  Em- 


peror's official  statement  in   the  Jfo»M- 
mentum  Ancyranum. 


27  B.O.-14  A.D.  THE  JULIAN  LAWS.  63 

one  of  his  successors.*  Augustus  probably  intended  the  feast  to 
have  a  certain  political  significance,  both  as  lending  a  sort  of  con- 
secration to  the  religious  and  social  legislation  of  the  preceding 
year,  and  as  celebrating  in  an  impressive  manner  the  introduction 
of  a  new  epoch,  whose  continuance  now  seemed  assured  by  the 
adoption  of  the  Emperor's  grandsons,  which  took  place  at  the  same 
time.  The  conduct  of  the  ceremony  devolved  upon  the  Quin- 
decimviri,  who  elected  two  of  their  members,  Augustus  and 
Agrippa,  to  preside  over  the  celebration.  It  lasted  three  days. 
The  ceremonies  consisted  of  the  distribution  of  lustral  torches, 
brimstone  and  pitch,  and  of  wheat,  barley,  and  beans,  at  certain 
stations  in  the  city.  The  usual  invocations  of  Dis  Pater  and 
Proserpine  were  replaced  by  those  of  Apollo  and  Diana.  On  the 
third  day,  a  carmen  sa&cufare — an  ode  of  thanksgiving— was 
performed  in  the  atrium  of  Apollo's  Palatine  temple  by  a  choir  of 
youths  and  maidens  of  noble  birth,  both  of  whose  parents  were  alive. 
The  carmen  sseculare  was  written  by  Horace,  and  is  still  preserved. 

Augustus  also  endeavoured  to  restrain  luxury  by  sumptuary 
laws,t  and  to  suppress  the  immorality  which  prevailed  at  the  public 
games.  He  excluded  women  altogether  from  the  exhibitions  of 
athletic  contests,  and  assigned  them  a  special  place,  apart  from  the 
men,  at  the  gladiatorial  shows.  At  these  public  spectacles  he 
separated  the  classes  as  well  as  the  sexes.  Senators,  knights, 
soldiers,  freedmen  were  all  assigned  their  special  places.  Precedence 
was  given  to  married  men  over  bachelors. 

In  connection  with  the  social  reforms  of  Augustus  may  be 
mentioned  his  policy  in  dealing  with  the  libertini,  who  formed  a 
very  large  portion  of  the  population  of  Rome.  He  endeavoured  to 
reduce  their  number  in  three  ways.  (1)  He  facilitated  the 
marriage  of  freed  folk  with  free  folk  (except  senators),  with  a  view 
to  drawing  them  into  the  number  of  the  free  population.  (2)  The 
institution  of  the  Augustales  (see  below,  §  6)  was  an  inducement  to 
freedmen  to  remain  in  the  Italian  towns,  instead  of  nocking  to  the 
capital.  (3)  Laws  were  passed  limiting  the  manumission  of  slaves. 
The  lex  JSlia  Sentia  (4  A.D.)  decreed  that  a  slave  under  thirty 
years  of  age  or  of  bad  character  must  not  be  manumitted  except 
by  the  process  of  vindicta.  Four  years  later,  the  lex  Fufia  Caninia 
ordained  that  only  a  certain  percentage  of  the  slaves  then  existing 
could  be  set  free  by  testament. 

*  Claudius.  i  other  law  of  the  same  year  was  the  de 

f  Lex  Julia  tumptwria,  18  B.C.    An-  |  ambit  u,  to  suppress  bribery. 


64  ADMINISTRATION   OF  AUGUSTUS         CHAP.  T. 


SECT.  II. — ADMINISTRATION  OF  ROME  AND  ITALY. 

§  3.  No  part,  perhaps,  of  the  government  of  Augustus  is  more 
characteristic  of  his  political  method  and  of  the  g<  neral  spirit  of  the 
Principate  than  the  administration  of  Rome  and  Italy.  At  first  he 
left  this  department  entirely  in  the  hands  of  the  senate,  and  he 
never  overtly  robbed  the  senate  of  its  rights.  Bur  he  brought  it 
about  that  a  large  number  of  important  branches  were  by  degrees 
transferred  from  the  control  of  the  senate  to  that  of  the  Prihcc-ps. 
The  senate  and  consuls  repeatedly  declared  themselves  helpless, 
and  called  upon  the  Princeps  to  intervene;  and  so  it  came  about 
that  some  offices  were  definitely  taken  in  hand  by  him,  and  in 
other  matters,  which  were  still  left  to  the  care  of  the  senate  and 
the  republican  magistrates,  it  became  the  habit,  in  case  of  a 
difficulty,  to  look  to  the  Princeps  for  counsel  and  guidance.  Thus 
the  way  in  which  the  encroachments  of  monarchy  were  made 
was  by  keeping  the  republican  institutions  on  trial  and  convicting 
them  of  incompetence.  This  was  one  of  the  "  secrets  of  empire," 
which  were  discovered  and  deftly  manipulated  by  Augustus.  It 
was  chiefly  in  the  later  part  of  his  principate,  when  he  had  arranged 
the  affairs  of  the  provinces,  that  Augustus  began  to  intervene 
seriously  in  administration  and  organisation  in  Italy  and  Rome.  In 
this  connection,  it  is  important  to  observe  that  while  the  institu- 
tion of  the  Empire  inaugurated  a  new  epoch  of  good  government 
and  prosperity  for  the  provinces,  so  that  they  gradually  rose  to  the 
same  level  politically  as  Italy  herself,  Augustus  was  deeply  con- 
cerned to  preserve  intact  the  dignity  of  Rome  as  the  sovran  city, 
and  Italy  as  the  dominant  country ;  and  the  distinction  between 
Italy  and  the  provinces  was  not  entirely  effaced  for  three  centuries. 

The  supply  of  Rome  with  corn  required  a  new  organisation; 
and  the  Emperor's  possession  of  Egypt  enabled  him  to  meet  the 
need.  In  22  B.C.  there  was  a  great  scarcity  in  Rome,  and  the 
people  demanded  that  the  senate  should  appoint  Augustus  dictator 
and  censor  for  life.  Augustus  rejected  this  proposal,  but  accepted 
the  cura  annonee,  or  "  administration  of  the  corn-market,"  and  soon 
relieved  the  distress.  This  was  the  first  department  in  Rome 
that  he  took  into  his  own  hands.  In  6  A.D.,  there  was  a  still 
more  pressing  scarcity  of  food,  and,  some  years  later  the  Emperor 
was  driven  to  take  measures  for  the  permanent  provision  of 
the  city  with  corn.  He  instituted  a  prasfectus  annonse,  of 
equestrian  rank,  and  receiving  his  appointment  from  the  Emperor. 
His  duty  was  to  superintend  the  transport  of  corn  from  Egypt, 
and  see  that  the  Roman  market  was  kept  supplied  at  a  cheap 


27  B.a-14  A.D.     CORN   SUPPLY.      WATER  SUPPLY.          65 

rate.  The  expenses  were  defrayed,  chiefly  at  least,  by  the  fiscus, 
though  properly  they  should  have  devolved,  as  before,  upon  the 
aerarium,  as  Rome  was  within  the  sphere  of  the  senate's  adminis- 
tration. The  Emperor  had  also  to  provide  for  the  support  of  the 
poor.  The  number  of  those  who  were  entitled  to  profit  by  the 
free  distribution  of  corn  was  finally  fixed  at  200,000.  This  in- 
cluded freedmen.  Immense  sums  were  also  expended  by  Augustus 
in  public  donations  to  the  plebs. 

Agrippa,  whom  the  Emperor  during  his  absence  in  the 
Mast  (21  B.C.,  and  following  years)  left  in  charge  of  Rome,  set 
zealously  to  work  to  reform  the  water-supply.  He  restored  the 
old  and  laid  down  new  aqueducts,  the  chief  among  them  being 
the  Aqua  Virgo  (19  B.C.);  and  he  instituted  a  body  of  public 
servants,  whose  duty  was  to  keep  the  water-pipes  in  repair.*  The 
administration  of  the  aqueducts  (euro,  aquarum)  seems  to  have 
been  regularly  organised,  after  Agrippa's  death,  in  11  B.C. 

While  Augustus  adorned  Rome  with  edifices,  he  had  also  to 
guard  against  their  destruction.  Conflagrations  frequently  broke  out 
in  the  capital,  and  there  were'no  proper  arrangements  for  quench- 
ing them.  Finding  that  the  sediles,  to  whom  he  assigned  this  care, 
were  unequal  to  performing  it,  he  was  compelled  (6  A.D.)  to 
organise  seven  military  cohorts  of  watchmen  (yigiles),  each  cohort 
composed  of  10CO  to  1200  men,  under  the  command  of  a  Prefect  of 
equestrian  rank,  who  was  entitled  prsefectus  vigilum,  and  was 
appointed  by  the  Emperor.  These  cohorts  consisted  chiefly  of 
freedmen.  They  were  quartered  in  seven  stations  in  the  city, 
so  that  each  cohort  did  service  for  two  of  the  fourteen  regions  into 
which  Rome  was  divided. f 

Other  new  charges  were  also  instituted  by  Augustus  for  the 
wellbeing  of  Rome.  The  curatores  operum  publicorum  (chosen 
from  prastorian  senators)  watched  over  public  ground,  and  public 
buildings. 

§  4.  Prfefpctus  urbi.  Originally  Roman  consuls  had  the  right 
of  appointing  a  representative,  called  prsefectus  urbi,  to  take  their 
pLice  at  Rome  when  they  were  obliged  to  be  absent  from  the  city. 
This  right  was  taken  from  them  by  the  institution  of  the  prsetorship. 
But  immediately  after  the  foundation  of  the  Principal,  |  while  his 
position  still  rested  on  a  combination  of  the  consular  with  the  pro- 
consular power,  Augustus  during  his  absence  from  Rome  (27-24  B.C.) 

*  For  an  account  of  the  Roman  aque- 
ducts, see  Chap.  XXXI.  $  16. 
f  This  division  of  Rome  was  made  in 
B.C.  (see  above.  Chap  HI-  6  «\     I*, 


and  August  to  the  Lares  and  the  genius 
of  Augustus. 

J  Maecenas   had  been  practically  prat* 
fectus  urhi  durine  Cesar's  contest  with 


also  divided  into  265  quarters  (vici),  under  1  Antony. 
wogistri  vicorum,  who  sacrificed  in  May   J 


66  ADMINISTRATION  OF  AUGUSTUS.        CHAP.  v. 

revived  this  old  office,  and  appointed  a  praefectus  urbi  to  take 
his  place.  Messalla  Corvinus,  a  man  who  was  much  respected 
and  had  rendered  great  services  to  the  Emperor,  was  appointed  to 
the  post  (25  B.C.),  but  laid  it  down  within  six  days,  on  the  ground 
that  he  was  unequal  to  fulfilling  its  duties ;  hut  he  seems  to  have 
really  regarded  it  as  an  unconstitutional  innovation.  During  his 
visit  to  the  East  in  21  B.C.,  and  following  years,  Rome  was 
administered  by  his  consort  Agrippa,  and  therefore  no  other 
representative  was  required.  But  during  his  absence  in  Gaul  in 
16-13  B.C.,  when  Agrippa  was  also  absent  in  the  East,  StatiliuG 
Taurus  was  left  as  pra/ectus  urbi,  and  performed  the  duties  well. 
It  is  to  be  observed  that  on  this  occasion  Augustus  v/as  not 
consul,  and  the  Principate  no  longer  depended  on  the  consular 
power ;  so  that  the  appointment  of  Taurus  as  prspfectus  urbi  was 
a  constitutional  novelty.  But,  under  Augustus,  the  post  was  never 
anything  but  temporary,  during  the  Emperor's  absence  from 
Italy.  It  was  not  until  the  reign  of  his  successor  Tiberius  that 
the  prssfectura  urbis  became  a  permanent  institution. 

§  5.  In  Italy  as  well  as  in  Rome  the  senate  proved  itself  unequal 
to  discharging  the  duties  of  a  government,  and  the  Emperor  was 
obliged  to  step  in.  The  cura  viarum  was  instituted  for  the 
repair  of  the  public  roads  (20  B.C.).  A  curator  was  set  over 
each  road.  For  the  main  roads  leading  from  Rome  to  the  frontiers 
of  Italy,  these  officers  were  selected  from  the  praetorian  senators ; 
for  the  lesser  roads,  from  the  knights.  Italy,  like  Rome,  was 
divided  into  regions,  eleven  in  number,*  Rome  itself  making  the 
twelfth.  The  object  of  this  division  is  uncertain ;  but  may  have 
been  made  for  purposes  of  taxation.  In  any  case,  the  regions 
were  not  administrative  districts,  for  the  independence  of  the 
political  communities  in  managing  their  own  affairs  was  not 
infringed  on  by  Augustus  or  any  of  his  successors  till  the  time  of 
Trajan.f 

The  imperial  post,  an  institution  which  applied  to  the  whole 
Empire,  may  be  mentioned  here.  It  was  a  creation  of  Augustus, 
who  established  relays  of  vehicles  at  certain  !-tations  along  the 
military  roads,  to  convey  himself  or  his  messengers  without  delay, 

*  Campania,  Apulia  et  Calabria,  Bruttia  ;  an  amount  over  15,000  sesterces  came 
et  Lucania,  Sanmium,  Picenum,  Umbria,  under  the  competence  of  the  Roman  prae- 


Etruria  (Tuscia),  .Emilia,  Liguria,  Vene- 
tia  et  Istria,  Transpadana. 

The  rights  of  municipal  autonomy 


tors.  Jt  is  to  be  observed  that  the  <om- 
munities  themselves  were  financially 
quite  independent.  Imperial  taxation 


which  belonged  to  the  Italian  communities     fell  on   the  individual  members  of  the 
were  defined  by  Julius  Caesar  in  the  lex     communities,  as  Roman  citizens,  but  not 


Rubria  and  the  lex  lulia   municipalis 
(49  and  45  B.C.).    Civil  causes  involving 


on  the  communities. 


27  B.c.-H  A.D.  THE   AUGU8TALKS.  67 

and  secure  rapid  official  communication  between  the  capital  and 
the  various  provinces.  The  use  of  these  arrangements  was  strictly 
limited  to  imperial  officers  and  messengers,  or  those  to  whom 
lie  gave  a  special  passport,  called  diploma.  The  costs  of  the 
vehicles  and  horses,  and  other  expenses,  fell  upon  the  communities 
in  which  the  stations  were  established.  This  requisition  led  to 
abuses,  and  in  later  times  the  expenses  were  defrayed  by  the  //sews. 
It  is  to  be  observed  that  this  institution  had  not  assumed  under 
Augustus  anything  like  the  proportions  which  it  assumed  a  century 
oi-  so  later,  as  the  curs  <s  publicus. 

§  6.  The  Augustales. — Freedmen  were  strictly  excluded  from 
holding  magistracies  and  priestly  offices,  and  from  sitting  in  the 
municipal  councils,  or  senates  throughout  the  Empire.  Caesar  the 
Dictator  had  indeed  sometimes  relaxed  this  rule  in  their  favour 
beyond  Italy,  but  Augustus  strictly  enforced  and  excluded  libertini 
from  government.  Their  exclusion  was  economically  a  public  loss. 
For  one  of  the  chief  sources  from  which  the  town  treasuries  were 
supplied  was  the  contributions  levied  on  new  magistrates  and 
priests,  whether  in  the  form  of  direct  payments  or  of  under- 
taking the  exhibition  of  public  games.  As  the  freedmeti  could 
not  become  magistrates  or  priests,  they  were  not  liable  to  these 
burdens,  which  they  would  have  been  glad  to  undertake.  In  order 
to  open  a  field  to  their  ambition,  and  at  the  same  time  to  make 
their  wealth  available  for  the  public  service,  Augustus  created 
a  new  institution,  entitled  the  Augustales,  probably  in  the  early 
years  of  his  principate.  (1)  This  organisation  was  first  established 
in  Italy,  and  the  Latin  provinces  of  the  west.  In  Africa  it  was  not 
common,  and  it  is  not  found  at  all  in  the  eastern  part  of  the 
Empire.  (2)  It  was  not  called  into  being  by  a  law  of  Augustus, 
but  at  his  suggestion  the  several  communities  decreed  an  insti- 
tution, which  was  in  every  way  profitable  to  them.  (3)  The  in- 
stitution consisted  in  the  creation  every  year  of  six  men,  Sexviri 
Augustales,  who  were  nominated  by  the  decurions  (the  chief  muni- 
cipal magistrates).  (4)  These  sexviri  were  magistrates,  not  priests ; 
but  their  magistracy  was  only  formal,  as  they  had  no  magisterial 
functions  to  perform.  (5)  But  like  true  magistrates  they  had  public 
burdens  to  sustain ;  they  had  to  make  a  payment  to  the  public 
treasury  when  they  entered  upon  their  office,  and  they  had  to  defray 
the  cost  of  games.  (6)  The  sexviri  were  almost  always  chosen  from 
the  class  of  the  libertini.  This  rule  held  good  without  exception  in 
southern  Italy.  (7)  After  their  year  of  office  the  sexviri  Augustales, 
were  called  Augustales,  just  as  consuls  after  their  year  of  office  were 
called  consulares.  Thus  the  Augustales  formed  a  distinct  rank,  to 
which  it  was  the  ambition  of  every  freedman  to  belong.  (8)  One  of 


68  ADMINISTRATION   OF   AUGUSTUS.         CHAP.  v. 

the  most  interesting  points  about  the  institution  is  that  it  seems 
to  have  been  partly  modelled  upon  the  organisation  of  the  Roman 
knights.  The  designation  of  the  sexviri  of  the  order  of  the 
Augustales  seems  to  have  been  borrowed  from  the  order  of  the 
Bquites,  and  perhaps  was  introduced  about  the  same  time.  More- 
over the  Augustales  occupied  the  same  position  in  Italy  and 
the  provinces,  as  the  knights  occupied  at  Rome;  they  were  the 
municipal  image  of  the  knights.  They  represented  the  capitalists 
and  mercantile  classes  in  contrast  with  the  nobility  and  landed 
proprietors ;  they  bore  the  same  relation  to  the  municipal  senate 
as  the  knights  to  the  Roman  senate. 


SECT.  III. — ORGANISATION  OF  THE  ARMY  AND  FLEET. 

§  7.  Augustus  introduced  some  radical  changes  into  the  Roman 
military  system.  In  the  first  place,  he  established  a  standing 
army.  It  was  quite  logical  that  the  permanent  imperator  should 
have  a  permanent  army  under  his  command.  The  legions  distri- 
buted throughout  those  provinces,  which  required  military  protec- 
tion, have  now  permanent  camps.  In  the  second  place,  he  organised 
the  auxilia,  and  made  them  an  essential  part  of  the  military  forces 
of  the  Empire.  Thirdly,  he  separated  the  fleet  from  the  army  ;  and 
fourthly,  he  established  the  praetorian  guards.  Augustus  spent 
great  care  on  the  organisation  of  the  army,  but  it  is  generally 
admitted  that  he  acted  unwisely  in  reducing  the  number  of 
legions  after  the  civil  wars.*  This  step  was  chiefly  dictated  by 
considerations  of  economy,  in  order  to  diminish  the  public  burdens ; 
but  the  standing  army  which  he  maintained,  of  about  250,000 
men,  was  inadequate  for  the  defence  of  such  a  great  empire  against 
its  foes  on  the  Rhine,  the  Danube,  and  the  Euphrates,  not  tc  speak 
of  lesser  dangers  in  other  quarters. 

At  the  death  of  Augustus,  the  legions  numbered  twenty-five. 
Each  legion  consisted  of  not  more  than  6000,  not  less  than  5000, 
foot-soldiers  and  120  horse-soldiers.  The  foot-soldi-  rs  were  divided 
into  ten  cohorts,  and  each  cohort  into  six  centuries.  Each  century 
had  a  standard  (siynum)  of  its  own.  The  horse-soldiers  were 
divided  into  four  turmas.  Only  those  were  admitted  to  legionary 
s.  rvice  who  were  frceborn,  and  belonged  to  a  city-community. 

To  the  legions  were  attached  auxiliary  troops  (auxilia),  recruited 
from  the  provincials,  who  did  not  belong  to  urban  communities. 
They  were  divided  into  cohorts,  and  consisted  of  footmen  and  horse- 
men, or  both  combined.  Some  foot-cohorts  were  composed  of  about 

*  See  Note  C.  at  end  of  chapter. 


27BC.-14A.D.  THE  ARMY.  69 

500  men,  and  were  divided  into  six  centuries ;  such  were  called  quin- 
genarias.  Others  were  larger  and  contained  1000  men  divided  into 
ten  centuries ;  these  were  milliariee.  Mixed  cohorts  of  both  horse 
and  foot-soldiers,  were  termed  equitatse.  The  alas  consisted  only  of 
horse-soldiers  and  also  varied  in  size.  The  auxiliary  troops,  when 
attached  to  a  legion,  were  under  the  control  of  the  commander  of 
the  legion.  But  they  could  also  act  separately,  and  some  provinces 
were  garrisoned  exclusively  by  auxilia. 

The  legions  were  distinguished  by  numbers  and  by  names ;  for 
example,  legio  x.  gemina,  xxi.  rapax,  or  vi.  victrix* 

Besides  these  troops  there  were  cohorts  of  Italian  volunteers,  of 
whom  we  seldom  hear ;  and  there  were  in  some  provinces  bodies  of 
provincial  militia.  Moreover,  Augustus  had  a  body-guard  of 
German  soldiers  to  protect  his  person;  but  he  disbanded  it  in 
9  A.D.f  With  the  exception  of  the  legions  stationed  in  Egypt, 
and  the  auxiliary  troops  in  some  small  provinces,  the  military 
forces  of  the  Empire  were  commanded  by  senators.  This  leads  us 
to  an  important  institution  of  Augustus,  the  legatus  legionis,  an 
officer  of  senatorial,  generally  prastorian,  rank,  who  commanded 
both  the  legion  and  the  auxilia  associated  with  it.  The  military 
tribune  thus  became  subordinate  to  the  legatus.  He  was  merely  a 
"  tribune  of  the  legion,"  and  on  an  equality  with  the  prefect  of  an 
auxiliary  cohort,  while  his  position  was  rather  inferior  to  that  of  a 
prefect  of  an  auxiliary  squadron.  These  three  posts  (tribunatus 
legionis,  preefectura  cohortis,  prsefectura  alee)  were  the  three 
"  equestrian  offices,"  open  to  the  sons  of  senators  who  aspired  to  a 
pnblic  career.  The  prefect  of  the  camp  (preefectus  castrorum)  was 
not  of  senatorial  rank,  and  was  generally  taken  from  the  primipili, 
or  first  of  the  first  class  of  centurions.  He  was  subject  to  the 
governor  of  the  province  in  which  the  camp  was  situated ;  but  he 
was  not  subject  to  the  legatus  legionis.  He  had  no  power  of  capital 
punishment.  In  Egypt,  from  which  senators  were  excluded,  there 
was  no  legatus  legionis,  and  the  prefect  of  the  camp  look  his  place. 

The  time  of  service  for  a  legionary  soldier  was  fixed  (5  A.D.)  at 
twenty  years,  for  an  auxiliary  at  twenty-five.  The  government  was 
bound  to  provide  for  the  discharged  veterans,  by  giving  them  farms  or 
sums  of  money.  It  became  the  custom,  however,  for  some  soldiers, 
after  their  regular  term,  to  continue  in  tlieservice  of  the  state,  in  special 
divisions,  and  with  special  privileges.  These  divisions  were  known  as 
the  vexilla  veteranorum,  $  and  were  only  employed  in  battle. 


*  See  Note  A.  at  end  of  chapter 

•f  See  Notes  D.  and  E. 

J  Also  called  vexillarii :   to  be  distin- 


i;iiislii>cl  from  another  use  of  vexillnrii, 
meaning  soldiers  of  a  small  division,  tem- 


porarily separated  from  its  main  body 
ami  placed  under  a  special  vexillum. 
While  the  signum  was  the  standard  of  a 
permanent  body  only,  the  vexillum  was 
used  for  special  and  temporary  formation*. 


TU  ADMINISTRATION    OF  AUGUSTUS.        CHAP.  v. 

The  expenses  of  this  military  system  were  very  large,  and  in 
6  A.D.,  at  the  time  of  a  rebellion  in  Dalmatia,  Augustus  was  unable 
to  meet  the  claims  of  the  soldiers  by  ordinaiy  means,  and  was 
driven  to  instituting  an  asrarium  militare,  with  a  capital  of 
170,000,000  sesterces  (about  £1,360,000).  It  was  administered  by- 
three  prsefecti,  chosen  by  lot,  for  throe  years,  from  the  praetorian 
senators.  The  sources  of  revenue  on  which  the  military  treasury 
was  to  depend,  were  a  five  per  cent,  tax  on  inheritances,  and  a 
one  per  cent,  impost  on  auctions. 

§  8.  Eome  and  Italy  were  exempted  from  the  military  command 
of  the  Imperator;  and  the  army  was  distributed  in  the  provinces 
and  on  the  frontiers.  But  there  were  two  exceptions :  the  Praetorian 
guards  (along  with  the  City  guards  and  the  Watchmen)  and 
the  fleet. 

Tne  institution  of  a  body-guard  (cohors  prsetoria)  for  the  impe- 
rator  had  existed  under  the  Eepublic,  and  had  been  further 
developed  under  the  triumvirate.  Augustus  organised  it  anew. 
After  his  victory  both  his  own  guards  and  those  of  his  defeated 
rival  AntoniUs  were  at  his  disposal,  and  out  of  these  troops  he 
formed  a  company  of  nine  cohorts,  each  consisting  of  1000  men. 
Thus  the  permanent  praetorian  guard  under  the  Empire  stood  in  the 
same  relation  to  the  Imperator,  in  which  the  temporary  cohors 
prsetoria  stood  to  an  imperator  under  the  Kepublic.  The  pay  of 
the  piaetorian  soldier  was  fixed  at  double  that  of  the  legionary, 
his  rime  of  service  was  fixed  (5  A.D.)  at  sixteen  years;  and 
the  command  was  ultimately  placed  in  the  hands  of  two  prae- 
torian prefects  (2  B.C.)  of  equestrian  rank.  In  later  times  this 
office  became  the  most  important  in  the  state;  but  even  at 
first  a  praetorian  prefect  had  great  influence.  The  Emperor's 
personal  safety  depended  on  his  loyalty,  and  the  appointment  of 
two  prefects  by  Augustus,  was  probably  a  device  for  lessening  the 
chances  of  treachery.  Only  a  small  division  of  the  praetorian  troops 
were  permitted  to  have  their  station  within  Rome ;  the  rest  were 
quartered  in  the  neighbourhood.  The  irregularity  of  a  standing 
military  force  posted  in  Italy,  was  to  some  extent  rendered  less 
unwelcome  by  the  rule  that  only  Italians — and  "Italians"  was 
at  first  interpreted  in  its  old  sense,  so  as  to  exclude  dwellers  in 
Gallia  Cisalpina — could  enter  the  service.* 

B<  sides  the  Praetorian  cohorts,  there  were  three  Urban  cohorts 
(cohortes  urbanse)  stationed  at  Korne.  During  the  absence  of  the 


*   Tacitus,    Annals,   iv.    6.      Etruria  |  Thus   Italy  beyond   the  Padus  and  th* 
ferine    Umbriaque   delectae    aut    vetere  I  Greek  towns  in  the  eouth  are  excluded. 
Latio    et    coloniis    antiques    Romania.  J 


27  B.O.-14  A.D.  THE    FLEETS.  71 

Emperor,  they  were   under  the  command  of  the  prefect  of  the 
city.     The  cohortes  vigilum  have  already  been  mentioned.* 

Augustus  created  an  imperial  fleet,  which  was  called,  though 
perhaps  not  in  his  own  day,  the  classis  prgetoria.  Under  the 
Republic  the  command  of  the  naval  forces  had  always  devolved 
upon  the  commander  of  the  legions,  and  consequently  no  fleets  could 
be  stationed  in  Italian  ports,  as  Italy  was  exempt  from  the 
imperium.  Hence  the  Tuscan  and  Adriatic  seas  were  infested  by 
pirates.  The  war  with  Sextus  Pompeius  had  turned  the  special 
attention  of  Augustus  to  the  fleet,  and  he  saw  his  way  to  separating 
the  navy  from  the  army.  Two  fleets  were  permanently  stationed 
in  Italy ;  one,  to  guard  over  the  eastern  waters,  at  Ravenna,  and 
the  second,  to  control  the  southern  seas,  at  Misenum.  They 
formed  the  guard  of  the  Emperor,  and  at  first  were  manned  by  his 
slaves.  The  commanders,  under  the  early  Empire,  were  prsefecti, 
who  were  sometimes  freedmen.  Augustus  also  stationed  a  squadron 
of  lesser  magnitude  at  Forum  Julium  ;  but  this  was  removed  when 
the  province  of  Narbonensis  was  transferred  to  the  senate  (22  B.C.). 
These  fleets  were  composed  of  the  regular  ships  of  war  with  three 
benches  of  oars,  triremes,  and  of  the  lighter  Liburnian  biremes. 
But  the  heavier  and  larger  kind  afterwards  fell  into  disuse,  and 
liburna  came  to  be  the  general  word  for  a  warship. 

*  A  fourth  urban  cohort  was  stationed  I  Augusti,  who  seem  to  have  ranked  between 
at  Lugudunum.  Another,  but  very  I  the  cohortes  wrbanee  and  the  cohortes 
obscure,  military  corps  was  the  statores  \  vigilum. 


NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

A.— DISTRIBUTION  OF  THE  LEGIONS  IN  THE  PROVINCES  AT  THE 
DEATH  OF  AUGUSTUS  (UA.JX). 

Spain 3  legions    .     .    IV.  Macedonica,  VI  VictrU,  X.  Gemina. 

Ix;«er  Germany      .     .    4  legions    .     .     I.,  V.  Alauda,  XX.  Valeria  Victrix,  XXI 

(Rapax). 
Upper  Germany     .     .    4  legions    .     .     IL  Augusta,  XILL  Gemina,  XIV.  Gemina, 

XVI. 

Pannonia      ....    3  legions    .     .     VIH.  Augusta,  IX.,  XV.  Apollinaris. 
Dalmatia       ....    2  legions    .     .    VII.,  <L 

Mojsia 2  legions    .     .    IV.  Scythlca,  V.  Macedonica. 

Syria 3  legions    .     .    III.  Galli-a,  VI.  Ferrata,  X.  Fretensis. 

Egypt 3  legions    .     .     III.    Cyrenaica,  XII.    Fulminata,    XXli 

Peiotariana. 

Attica 1  legion      .     .     111.  Augusta. 

Total  number  of  legions  25. 


72 


NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


CHAP.  v. 


In  27  B.C.,  at  the  beginning  of  the  [ 
Principate,  there  were  only  23  legions; 
VI.  Ferrata  and  X.  Fretensis  were  after- 
wards added  by  Augustus.  Moreover, 
three  of  the  legions  which  existed  in  27 
B.C.  no  longer  existed  in  13  A.I>.,  having 
perished  it  the  disaster  of  Varus,  namely 
XVII.,  XVI11.,  an.i  XIX.;  but  they  were 
replaced  by  three  new  ones,  namely  I., 
XXL  Rapax,  and  XXII.  Deiotariana. 

It  will  be  observed  that  in  some  cases 
more  than  one  legion  are  designated  by  i 
the  same  number.    It  is  probable  that  : 
this  is  due  to  the  fact  that  the  triumvirs  j 
numbered  their  legions  independently  of 
one  another,   and  Augustus  transferred 
into  his  own  army  some  complete  legions 
of  Antony  and  Lepidus  without  changing 
their  numbers.    We  know  that  this  was 
so  in  the  case  of  ill.  Gallica,  which  fought 
in  the  eastern  campaigns  of  Antony.    In 
these    cases  distinguishing   names  were 
indispensable. 

The  names  were  bestowed  for  various 
reasons.  One  legion  got  its  name  from 
insignia  (Fulminata;  perhaps  Alauda); 
another'  from  a  people  against  which  it 
had  fought  (Scytliica),  or  a  place  where  it 
had  fought  (Fretensis) ;  others  were  called 
by  general  epithets  (Victrix,  Rapax). 
For  Gemma,  see  Chap.  I.  §  3. 

The  auxilia  were  distinguished  by  the 
names  of  the  peoples  from  whom  they 
were  recruited,  but  the  alee  (more  rarely 
the  cohorts)  were  also  sometimes  desig- 
nated by  special  names  (e.g.  ala  Petri- 
ono). 

B.— PAY  OF  THE  LEGIONARIES 

AND  PILS3TORIANS;    AND 

LENGTH  OF  SERVICE. 

Under  Augustus  the  pay  of  the  legion- 
ary soldier  was  225  denarii  a  year  (about 
£8);  and  this  arrangement  continued  until 
the  time  of  Domitian,  who  increased  ;it  by 
a  third ;  so  that  it  became  300  denarii. 
The  Prajtorian  soldiers,  when  organised 
in  27  B.C.,  received  450  denarii  (twice  as 
much  as  a  legionary)  annually;  but  the 
money  was  afterwards  raised  to  720 
(abort  £25  10s.),  (cp.  Tacitus,  Ann.,  1. 
17).  The  pay  of  a  soldier  of  the  cohortes 
urbanse  was  probably  360  denarii. 

At  first  Augustus  (13  B.C.)  fixed  the 
period  of  service  for  the  legionary  at  16 
years,  for  the  praetorian  at  12 ;  but  in  5 
B.C.  the  former  period  was  raised  to  20, 
the  latter  to  16.  For  the  auxiliaries  the 


time  of  service  was  25  years ;  for  the  urban 
cohorts  20. 

C.— THE  REDUCTION  OF  THE 
LEGIONS  BY  AUGUSTUS. 

We  have  no  materials  for  tracing  in 
detail  the  transformation  which  the  army 
underwent  under  Augustus.  But  it  seems 
highly  probable  that  the  change  was 
accomplished  gradually,  and  not  by  a 
single  act.  Mommsen  holds  that  the 
legions,  numbering  over  50,  were  reduced 
immedtately  after  the  foundation  of  the 
Principate  to  18,  and  were  not  increased 
until  6  A.D.,  in  which  year  he  supposes 
8  new  legions  to  have  been  formed, 
making  a  total  of  26  :  the  loss  of  the  thre,e 
legions  of  Varus,  which  were  replaced  by 
two  new  ones,  gives  the  total  of  25,  which 
we  know  to  have  existed  at  the  death  of 
Augustus.  But  the  evidence  which  he 
cites  for  the  formation  of  8  new  legions 
rather  points  to  the  supplementing  of 
legions  already  existing. 

It  seems  extremely  unlikely  that  Aug- 
ustus would  have  decided  in  27  B.C.  to 
reduce  the  army  to  100,000  men,  however 
much  such  a  reduction  was  recommended 
by  financial  considerations.  The  question, 
as  Herzog  has  well  pointed  out,  must  be 
taken  in  close  connection  with  the  organi- 
sation of  the  auxilia,  which  were  a  new 
institution  of  Augustus,  and  the  formation 
of  which  must  have  taken  time.  The 
conjecture  of  Herzog  that  the  reduction  of 
j  the  legions  was  accomplished  gradually 
and  concurrently  with  the  organisation  of 
!  the  auxiliary  troops,  has  much  to  recom- 
mend it.  It  so,  this  change  may  have 
been  nearly  accomplished  by  13  B.C.,  for 
in  that  year  some  important  arrangements 
in  respect  to  the  military  service  were 
made  by  decree  of  the  senate.  (See  above, 
note  B.).  See  Mommsen,  Res  Gestee,  pp. 
68  sqq.;  Herzog,  Gesch.  und  Syst.,  ii. 
205,  206. 

D.— PROVINCIAL  MILITIA.. 

In  some  provinces  (such  as  Rwtia, 
Cappadocia,  &c.)  bodies  of  provincials  (to 
be  carefully  distinguished  from  the  regular 
!  auxilia)  were  often  levied  in  special  cases 
of  danger.  In  Tarraconensis  there  seems 
to  have  been  a  specially  organised  body  of 
provincial  soldiers,  for  we  find  an  officer 
entitled  the  prsefectus  orse  maritimte 


CHAP.  V. 


NOTES  AND   ILLUSTRATIONS. 


73 


in  charge  of  tiro  cohorts.  It  is  also  not 
improbable  that  in  a  few  cases  towns  had 
small  bodies  of  municipal  militia  to  meet 
emergencies. 

E.— THE  GERMAN  BODYGUARD. 

The  alarm  occasioned  by  the  defeat  of 
Varus  in  9  A.D.  caused  Augustus  to 
dismiss  the  German  bodyguard  which  he 
had  employed  since  the  battle  of  Actium. 
But  we  find  a  German  guard  again  under 
Tiberius,  Gaius,  and  Nero.  Nero's  Ger- 
mans were  disbanded  by  Galba,  and  this 
institution  was  not  renewed  under  the 
early  Empire.  The  legal  status  of  the 
Germans  thus  employed  was  that  of 
slaves,  and  accordingly  they  were  organ- 


ised like  a  collegium  of  stares,  and  divided 

into  decurice. 

F._ THE  EVOCATI  AUGUSTI. 

We  hear  so  little  of  this  body  that  it 
seemed  unnecessary  to  mention  it  in  the 
text.  They  were  a  special  company 
organised  by  Augustus,  and  constituted 
a  regular  department  of  the  service;  not 
like  the  evocati  of  the  Republic,  a  band 
specially  "called  forth"  to  meet  special 
emergencies.  They  were  selected  from 
those  who  had  already  served  their  time 
in  the  army,  and  they  fulfilled  special 
duties  of  a  civil  rather  than  a  military 
kind  They  uarried  out  works  of  military 
engineer  ing,  &c. 


Coin  of  Gaius  and  Lucii 


Arch  of  Augustus  at  Aosto. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

PROVINCIAL  ADMINISTRATION  UNDER    AUGUSTUS.      THE  WESTERN 
PROVINCES. 

§  1.  Distinction  between  the  provinces  and  federate  states.  Tribute. 
Local  self-government  of  provincial  cities.  §  2.  Imperial  and  Sena- 
torial provinces.  §  3.  Proconsuls  and  propraetors.  Consular  and 
praetorian  provinces.  Legati.  Procurators.  The  imperiwn  mai"S  of 
the  Emperor.  §  4.  Visits  of  Augustus  to  the  provinces.  §  5.  GAUL  ; 
the  fonr  provinces,  Narboneusis,  Aquitania,  Lugudunensis,  and  Belgica. 
Altar  of  Rome  and  Augustus  at  Lugudunum.  Importance  of  Lugu- 
dunum.  Britain.  §  6.  SPAIN  :  Baetica,  Tarraconensis  and  Lusitania. 
Gantabrian  and  Asturian  Wars.  §  7.  AFRICA.  The  kingdom  of  Maure- 
tania.  §  8.  SARDINIA  and  CORSICA.  §  9.  SICILY.  §  10.  R^ETIA, 
NORICUM,  and  the  ALPINE  DISTRICTS.  Subjugation  of  the  Raeti  and 
Vindelici  by  Drususand  Tiberius.  Conqnpst  of  the  Salassi,  and  pacifi- 
cation of  the  Alps.  §  11.  DALMATIA  and  PANNONIA.  Dalmatian  war 
of  85  B.O.  Province  of  Illyricum.  §  12.  MCESIA  and  THRACE. 
Thracian  revolts.  §  13.  The  German  question,  and  the  defence  of 
the  frontiers. 

SECT.  I. — G-ENEEAL  ORGANISATION  OF  THE  PROVINCES. 

§  1.  WHEN  Augustus  founded  the  Empire,  the  dominion  of  Rome 
stretched  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Euphrates,  from  the  German 
Ocean  to  the  borders  of  Ethiopia.  The  lands  which  made  up  this 
empire  had  by  no  means  the  same  political  status.  Rome,  the 


27  B.C.-14  A.D         SUBJECTS  AND  ALLIES. 


mother  and  mistress  of  the  Empire,  stood  by  herself.  She  was  the 
centre,  to  which  all  the  rest  looked  up.  Next  her,  sharing  in  many 
respects  her  privileged  position,  was  Italy.*  Outside  this  inner 
circle  came  tlie  directly  subject  lands  and  communities,  which  were 
strictly  under  the  sway  (in  dicione)  of  the  Roman  people.  Outside 
ihese  again  came  the  lands  and  communiiies  which,  while  really 
under  the  sovranty  of  Rome,  preserved  their  independence  and 
were  not  called  subjects,  but  federate  states  and  allies.  And  in 
each  of  these  circles  there  were  various  kinds  and  subdivisions, 
according  to  the  mode  of  their  administration  or  the  limits  imposed 
on  their  sell-govern ment.  Thus  the  subjects  of  the  Homan  Empire 
were  almost  as  het<  rogeneous  in  their  political  relations  to  their 
mistress  as  in  race  and  language.  It  is  to  be  observed  that  by 
"  Roman  Empire,"  we  mem  more  than  the  Romans  in  strict  speech 
meant  by  imperium  Eomanum.  We  mean  not  only  the  provinces, 
but  the  independent  allied  states  and  client  kingdoms,  in  which  the 
people  were  not  the  subjects  of  the  Roman  people  and  the  land  was 
not  the  property  of  the  Roman  state.  These  federate  and 
associated  states  were  regarded  legally  as  outside  the  Roman 
fines,  although  the  fcedus  or  alliance  really  meant  that  they 
were  under  the  sovranty  of  Rome  and  the  continuation  of  their 
autonomy  depended  solely  on  her  will.  There  was  no  proper  word 
in  Latin  to  express  the  geographical  circle  which  included  both  the 
direct  and  the  indirect  subjects.  Perhaps  the  nearest  expression 
was  oibis  terra/rum,  "the  world,"  which  often  seems  equivalent  to 
"  the  Empire."  For  Roman  law  regarded  all  territory,  which  was 
not  either  Koman  or  bel<  n.ing  to  some  one  whose  ownership  Rome 
recognised,  as  the  property  of  no  man, — outside  the  world. 

The  chief  mark  of  distinction  between  the  autonomous,  and  not 
autonomous  communities  was  that  the  former  taxed  themselves, 
whereas  the  latter  were  taxed  by  Rome.  In  both  cases  there  were 
exceptions,  but  this  was  the  general  rule.  And  the  land  of  the 
provincial  communities  which  were  not  autonomous  belonged  to 
Rome,  whereas  the  land  of  the  autonomous  states  was  not  Roman. 
Originally,  «fter  the  conquest  of  her  earliest  provinces,  Rome  had 
not  appropriated  the  land  ;  but  this  was  a  theoretic  mis-take  which 
she  aiterwards  corrected  when  C.  Gracchus  organised  Asia.  Hence- 
forward all  provincial  territory  was  regarded  as  in  the  ownership  of 
the  Roman  people.  The  Roman  people  might  let  the  land  anew  to 
the  former  possessors  at  a  fixed  renr,  and  in  most  cases  this  was  done. 
Thus  the  principle  was  that  the  provincial  subjects  occupied  as 


*  Since  49  B.C.  all  the  Italian  com- 
munities,  from  the  Alps  to  the  straits  of 
Megsana  possessed  full  Roman  citizenship. 


By  the  Lex  Roscia  of  42  A.D.  "Italy' 
was  extended  to  the  Alps. 


76  PEOVINCIAL  ADMINISTRATION.         CHAP,  vt 

tenants  the  lands  which  they  or  their  ancestors  once  owned.  This 
rent  was  called  tributum,  or  stipendium.*  (a).  The  greater 
number  of  provincial  communities  in  the  time  of  Augustus  were 
civitaUs  stipendiarise.  The  legal  condition  of  these  subjects 
was  that  of  peregrini  dediticii,  but  they  were  not  called  by  this 
name.  They  were  under  the  control  of  the  governor  of  the  pro- 
vince to  which  they  belonged,  (b).  Throughout  the  provinces 
there  was  a  multitude  of  cities  which  possessed  full  Roman 
citizenship,  and  their  number  was  continually  increasing.  But 
although,  as  far  as  personal  rights  were  concerned,  these  cities 
were  on  a  level  with  the  cities  of  Italy,  they  were  worse  off  in  two 
particulars.  They  were  obliged  to  pay  tribute.  The  reason  of  this 
anomaly  was  the  theoretic  principle  that  provincial  territory  could 
not  be  alienated  by  its  owner,  the  Roman  people.  The  ager  pub- 
licuspopuli  Romani  beyond  the  sea  could  not  become  ager  privatus 
ex  iure  Quiritium.  In  other  words,  a  provincial  of  Narbo, 
although  a  Roman  citizen,  could  not  be  a  quiritary  possessor  of  land 
in  the  Narbonese  territory.  He  could  only  hold  land  of  the  Roman 
people,  and  must  therefore  pay  rent  for  it.  In  the  case,  however,  of 
some  favoured  communities,  this  principle  was  departed  from  as 
early  as  the  time  of  Augustus.  The  privilege  took  one  of  two 
forms,  either  a  grant  of  immunity  from  tribute  or  the  bestowal  of  ius 
Italicum.  The  latter  form,  which  was  the  more  common,  placed  the 
territory  of  the  community  which  received  it  in  the  same  position  as  the 
territory  of  Italy,  and  made  it  capable  of  quiritary  ownership.  The 
provincial  cities  which  possessed  ius  Italicum  marked  their  position 
by  the  external  sign  of  a  statue  of  a  naked  Silenus  with  a  wine-skin 
on  his  shoulder,  which  was  called  Marsyas.  This  custom  was 
imitated  from  the  Marsyas  which  stood  in  the  Roman  Forum, 
as  a  symbol  of  the  capital  city.  Besides  being  tributary,  the  pro- 
vincial communities  of  Roman  citizens  were,  like  the  peregrine 
communities,  subject  to  the  interference  of  the  Roman  governor. 

It  is  to  be  observed  that  these  communities  were  either  colonise 
or  municipia.  In  the  course  of  Italian  history  the  word  muni- 
cipium  had  completely  changed  its  meaning.  Originally  it  was 
applied  to  a  community  possessing  ius  Latinum,  and  also  to  the 
civitas  sine  su/ragio,  and  thus  it  was  a  term  of  contrast  to  those 
communities  which  possessed  full  Roman  citizenship.  But  when  in 
the  course  of  time  the  civitates  sine  su/ragio  received  political  rights 


*  Properly  stipendium  was  the  pay- 
ment levied  on  a  conquered  state  towards 
the  payment  of  the  expenses  of  the  war, 
and  was  thus  only  temporary.  But  when 


was  succeeded  by  a  regular  payment,  and 
this  tax  was  called  by  the  same  name. 
The  tax  was  afterwards  converted  into 
the  form  of  u  ground-rent  (ve'tigal)  or 


the  inferior  position    of  the   conquered     tribute,  but  the  word    stipendium   was 
btate  continued,  the  provisional  payment  I  still  used. 


27  B.C.-14  A.D. 


JUS   LATIN  UM. 


77 


and  the  Roman  states  received  full  Roman  citizenship,  and  thus  the 
municipium  proper  disappeared  from  Italy,  the  word  was  still  applied 
to  those  communities  of  Roman  citizens  which  had  originally  been 
either  Latin  municipia  or  independent  federate  states.  And  it  also, 
of  course,  continued  to  be  applied  to  cities  outside  Italy  which 
possessed  ius  Latinum.  It  is  clear  that  originally  municipium  and 
colonia  were  not  incompatible  ideas.  For  a  colony  founded  with 
ius  Latinum  was  both  a  municipium  and  a  colonia.  But  a  certain 
opposition  arose  between  them,  and  became  stronger  when  muni- 
cipium came  to  be  used  in  a  new  sense.  Municipium  is  only  used 
of  communities  which  existed  as  independent  states  before  they 
received  Roman  citizenship,  whether  by  the  deduction  of  a  colony 
or  not.  Colonia  is  generally  confined  to  those  communities  which 
were  settled  for  the  first  time  as  Roman  cities,  and  were  never 
states  before.  Thus  municipium  involves  a  reference  to  previous 
autonomy. 

(c).  Besides  Roman  cities,  there  were  also  Latin  cities  in  the 
provinces.  Originally  there  were  two  kinds  of  ius  Latinum,  one 
better  and  the  other  inferior.  The  old  Latin  colonies  possessed  the 
better  kind.  The  inferior  kind  was  known  as  the  ius  of  Ariminum,* 
and  it  alone  was  extended  to  provincial  communities.  When  Italy 
received  Roman  citizenship  after  the  Social  war,  the  better  kind  of 
ius  Latinum  vanished  for  ever,  and  the  lesser  kind  only  existed 
outside  Italy.  The  most  important  privilege  which  distinguished 
the  Latin  from  peregrine  communities  was  that  the  member  of  a 
Latin  city  had  a  prospect  of  obtaining  full  Roman  citizenship  by- 
holding  magistracies  in  his  own  community.  The  Latin  com- 
munities are  of  course  autonomous  f  and  are  not  controlled  by  the 
provincial  governor ;  but  like  Roman  communities  they  have  to  pay 
tribute  for  their  land,  which  is  the  property  of  the  Roman  people, 
unless  they  possess  immunity  or  ius  Italicum  as  well  as  ius 
Latinum. 

(d).  Outside  Roman  territory  and,  formally,  independent  allies 
of  Rome,  though  really  her  subjects,  are  the  free  states,  civitates 
liberx,  whether  single  republics,  like  Athens,  or  a  league  of  cities, 
like  Lycia.  Coostitutionally  they  fall  into  two  classes,  (1)  civitates 
liberas  et  faderatse,  or  simply  fcederatse,  (2)  civitates  (sine  foederf) 
libersB  (et  immunes).  States  of  the  first  class  were  connected  with 
Rome  by  a,  fcedus,  which  guaranteed  them  perpetual  autonomy. 
Tn  the  case  of  the  second  class  no  such  fcedus  existed,  and  their 
autonomy,  which  was  granted  by  a  lex  or  senatus  coxsultum,  could  at 


*  Ariminum  was  the  first  of  the  Twelve 
Latin  towns  which  became  Bomar 
Colonies  before  the  Social  War. 


f  But  in  some  respects  the  Latin  com- 
munities under  the  Empire  were  less 
independent  than  under  th«  Republic. 


78  PROVINCIAL    ADMINISTRATION.  OHAP.  vi. 

any  moment  be  recalled.  Otherwise  the  position  of  the  two  classes 
did  not  differ.  The  sovran  rights  of  these  free  states  were  limited 
in  the  following  ways  by  their  relation  to  Rome.  They  were  not 
permitted  to  have  subject  allies  standing  to  themselves  in  the  same 
relation  in  which  they  stood  to  Rome.  They  could  not  declare 
war  on  their  own  account;  whereas  every  declaration  of  war  and 
every  treaty  of  peace  made  by  Rome  was  valid  for  them  also, 
without  even  a  formal  expression  of  consent  on  their  part.  Some 
of  the  free  states,  such  as  Athens,  Sparta,  Massilia — seem  to  have 
been  exempted  by  the  treaty  from  the  burden  of  furnishing  military 
contingents,  both  under  the  Republic  and  under  the  Empire.  Others, 
on  the  other  hand,  were  bound  by  treaty  to  perform  service  of  this  kind ; 
thus  Rhodes  contributed  a  number  of  ships  every  year  to  the  Roman 
fleet.  It  is  probable  that  the  communities  which  were  established  as 
federate  or  Latin  states  under  the  Principate,  were  subject  to  con- 
scription. Theoretically,  all  the  autonomous  states  should  have  been 
exempt  from  tribute,  as  their  land  was  not  Roman ;  but  there  were 
exceptions  to  this  rule,  and  some  free  cities — for  example,  Byzantium, — 
paid  under  the  Principate  a  yearly  tributum. 

(e).  The  position  of  the  client  kingdoms  was  in  some  respects 
like  that  of  the  free  autonomous  states,  but  in  other  respects 
different.  Both  were  allied  with  Rome,  but  independent  of  Roman 
governors.  Both  the  free  peoples  who  managed  their  own  affairs, 
and  the  kings  who  ruled  their  kingdoms,  were  socii  of  the  Roman 
people ;  and  the  land  of  both  was  outside  the  boundaries  of 
Roman  territory.  But  whereas,  in  the  case  of  the  dvitates 
f&deratce,  the  Roman  people  entered  into  a  permanent  relation 
with  a  permanent  community,  in  the  case  of  kingdoms  the  relation 
was  only  a  personal  treaty  with  the  king,  and  came  to  an  end  at 
his  death.  Thus,  when  a  client  king  died,  Rome  might  either  renew 
the  same  relation  with  his  successor,  or  else,  without  any  formal 
violation  of  a  treaty,  convert  the  kingdom  into  a  province.  This 
last  policy  was  constantly  adopted  under  the  Principate,  so  that 
by  degrees  all  the  chief  client  principalities  disappeared,  and  the 
provincial  territory  increased  in  corresponding  measure.  Even 
under  the  Republic  the  dependent  princes  paid  fixed  annual  tributes 
to  Rome. 

(f).  The  treatment  of  Egvpt  by  Augustus  formed  a  new  de- 
parture in  the  organisation  of  the  subject  lands  of  Rome.*  It  was, 
as  we  have  seen,  united  with  the  Roman  Empire  by  a  sort  of  "  per- 
sonal union,"  like  that  by  which  Luxemburg  was  till  recently  united 
with  Holland.  The  sovran  of  the  Roman  state  was  also  sovran  of 
Egypt.  He  did  not,  indeed,  designate  himself  as  king  of  Egypt, 
*  See  above,  Chap.  I.  §  3  ;  and  below,  Chap.  VII.  §  8. 


27  B.C.-14  AJX      FREE  STATES.      CLIENT  KINGDOMS.     79 

any  more  than  as  king  of  Rome;  but  practically  he  was  the 
successor  of  the  Ptolemies.  This  principle  was  applied  to  depen- 
dent kingdoms  which  were  afterwards  annexed  to  the  Empire, 
such  as  Noricura  and  Judea.  Such  provinces  were  governed  by 
knights  (instead  of  seLators,  as  in  the  provinces  proper),  and  these 
knights,  who  were  entitled  prefects  or  procurators,  represented 
tho  iilmperor  personally.  It  is  clear  that  this  form  of  govern- 
ment was  not  possible  until  the  republic  had  become  a  monarchy, 
and  t'.iere  was  one  man  to  represent  the  state. 

(g).  To  make  the  picture  of  the  manifold  modes  in  which  Rome 
governed  her  subjects  complet-,  there  must  still  be  mentioned  the 
unimportant  class  of  attributed  places.  This  was  the  technical 
name  for  small  peoples  or  places,  which  counted  as  neither  states 
nor  districts  (pagi),  and  were  placed  under  or  attributed  to  a 
neighbouring  community.  Only  federate  towns,  or  towns  possess- 
ing cither  Roman  citizenship  or  ius  Latinum,  had  attributed 
places.  This  attribution  was  especially  employed  in  the  Alpine 
iistricts;  smnll  mountain  tribes  bcin<:  placed  under  the  control  of 
cities  like  Tergeste  or  Brixia.  The  inhabitants  of  the  attributed 
places  often  possessed  ius  Latinum,  and  as  they  had  no  magis- 
trates of  their  own,  they  were  permitted  to  be  candidates  for 
magistracies  in  the  states  to  which  they  were  attributed.  They 
could  thus  become  Roman  citizens. 

It  is  to  be  carefully  observed,  that  while  the  subjects  of  Rome 
fell  into  the  two  general  classes  of  autonomous  and  not  autono- 
mous, the  not  autonomous  communities  possessed  municipal  self- 
government.  The  provinces,  like  Italy,  were  organised  on  the 
principle  of  local  self-government.  In  those  lands  where  the 
town  system  was  already  developed,  the  Roman  conqueror  gladly 
eft  to  the  cities  their  constitutions,  and  allowed  them  to  manage 
their  local  affars  just  as  of  oM,  only  taking  care  that  they  should 
govern  themselves  on  aristocratic  principles.  Rome  even  went 
further,  an-l  based  her  administration  everywhere  on  the  system 
of  self-governing  communities,  introducing  it  in  those  provinces 
where  it  did  not  already  exist,  and  founding  towns  on  the  Italian 
model.  The  local  authorities  in  each  provincial  community  had 
to  levy  the  taxes  and  deliver  them  to  the  proper  Roman  officers. 
Representatives  of  each  community  met  yearly  in  a  provincial 
concilium.  For  judicial  purposes,  districts  of  communities  existed 
in  which  the  governor  of  the  province  dealt  out  justice.  These 
districts  were  called  convenlus. 

It  thus  app<  ars  that  the  stipendiary  communities  also  enjoyed 
autonomy— a  "  tolerated  autonomy,"  of  a  more  limited  kind  than 
that  of  the  free  and  the  federate  communities.  The  Roman 


80  PROVINCIAL  ADMINISTRATION.  CHAP.  n. 

governors  did  not  interfere  in  the  affairs  of  any  community  in 
their  provinces,  where  merely  municipal  matters,  not  affecting 
imperial  interests,  were  concerned.  It  also  appears  that  those 
not  autonomous  communities  which  had  obtained  exemption  from 
tribute  practically  approximated  to  the  autonomous,  whereas  those 
nominally  independent  states,  in  which  tribute  was  nevertheless 
levied,  approximated  to  the  dependent. 

Here  we  touch  upon  one  of  the  great  tendencies  which  marked 
the  policy  of  Augustus  and  his  successors  in  the  administration  of 
the  Empire.  This  was  the  gradual  abolition  of  that  variety  which 
at  the  end  of  the  Republic  existed  in  the  relations  between  Rome 
and  her  subjects.  There  was  (1)  the  great  distinction  between 
Italy  and  the  provinces ;  and  there  were  (2)  the  various  dis- 
tinctions between  the  provincial  communities  themselves.  From 
the  time  of  the  first  Princeps  onward,  we  can  trace  the  gradual 
wiping  out  of  these  distinctions,  until  the  whole  Empire  becomes 
uniform.  (1)  The  provinces  receive  favours  which  raise  them 
towards  the  level  of  Italy,  while  Italy's  privileges  are  diminished 
and  she  is  depressed  towards  the  level  of  the  provinces.  But  this 
change  takes  place  more  gradually  than  (2)  the  working  out  of 
uniformity  among  the  other  parts  of  the  Empire,  which  can  be 
traced  even  under  Augustus,  who  promoted  this  end  by  (a)  limit- 
ing the  autonomy  of  free  and  federate  states,  (&)  increasing  the 
autonomy  of  the  directly  subject  states,  (c)  extending  Roman 
citizenship,  (cF)  converting  client  principalities  into  provincial  terri- 
tory. But  perhaps  the  act  of  Augustus  which  most  effectually 
promoted  this  tendency  was  his  reorganisation  of  the  army,  which 
has  been  described  in  the  foregoing  chapter.  While  hitherto  the 
legions  were  recruited  from  Roman  citizens  only,  and  the 
provinces  were  exempt  from  ordinary  military  service,  although 
they  were  liable  to  be  called  upon  in  cases  of  necessity,  Augustus 
made  all  the  subjects  of  the  Empire,  whether  Roman  citizens  or 
not,  whether  Italians  or  provincials,  liable  to  regular  military 
service.  The  legions  were  recruited  not  from  Italy  only,  but 
from  all  the  cities  of  the  Empire,  whether  Roman,  Latin,  or 
ptregrmse ;  and  the  recruit,  as  soon  as  he  entered  the  legion, 
became  a  Roman  citizen.  The  auxilia  were  recruited  from  those 
subject  communities  which  were  not  formed  as  cities,  and  no 
Roman  citizens  beloneed  to  these  corps.  Such  communities  now 
occupied  somewhat  the  same  position  as  the  Italic  peoples  had 
formerly  occupied  in  relation  to  Roman  citizens.  It  will  be  readily 
seen  that  the  new  organisation  of  the  legions,  by  largely  increasing 
the  number  of  Roman  citizens,  and  by  raising  the  importance  of  the 
provinces,  tended  in  the  direction  of  uniformity 


27  B.C.      IMPERIAL  AND  SENATOEIAL  PROVINCES.      81 

§  2.  It  has  been  already  stated  that  in  the  provincial  administra- 
tion, as  in  other  matters,  a  division  was  made  by  Augustus  between 
the  Emperor  and  the  senate.  Henceforward  there  are  senatorial 
provinces  and  imperial  provinces.  The  provinces  which  fell  to  the 
share  of  the  senate  were  chiefly  those  which  were  peaceable  and 
settled,  and  were  not  likely  to  require  the  constant  presence  of 
military  forces.  The  Emperor  took  charge  of  those  which  were  likely 
to  be  troublesome,  and  might  often  demand  the  intervention  of  the 
Imperator  and  his  soldiers.  Thus  (27  B.C.)  Augustus  received  as  his 
proconsular  "  province "  Syria,  Gaul,  and  Hither  Spain.  With 
Syria  was  connected  the  defence  of  the  eastern  frontier;  Gaul,  which 
as  yet  was  a  single  province,  he  had  to  protect  against  the  Germans 
beyond  the  Rhine ;  and  Hispania  Cittrior  (or  Tarraconensis)  laid  on 
him  the  conduct  of  the  Cantabrian  war.  To  the  senate  were  left 
Sicily,  Africa,  Crete  and  Cyrene,  Asia,  Bithynia,  Illyricum,  Mace- 
donia, Achaia,  Sardinia,  and  Further  Spain  (Ba3tica).  In  this 
division  there  was  an  attempt  to  establish  a  balance  between  the 
dominion  of  the  Emperor,  (who  had  also  Egypt,  though  not  as  a 
province,)  and  the  senate.  But  the  balance  soon  wavered  in  favour 
of  the  Emperor,  and  the  imperial  provinces  soon  outweighed  the 
senatorial  in  number  as  well  as  importance.  When  new  provinces 
were  added  to  the  Empire,  they  were  made  imperial. 

After  the  division  of  27  B.C.,  several  changes  took  place  during 
the  reign  of  Augustus;  but  before  we  consider  the  provinces 
separately,  it  is  necessary  to  speak  of  the  general  differences 
between  the  senatorial  and  the  imperial  government. 

§  3.  The  Roman  provinces  were  at  first  governed  by  praetors, 
but  Sulla  made  a  new  arrangement,  by  which  the  governors 
should  be  no  longer  praetors  in  office,  but  men  who  had  been 
praetors,  under  the  title  of  propraetors.  This  change  introduced 
a  new  principle  into  the  provincial  government.  Henceforward 
the  governors  are  proconsuls  and  propraetors. 

Under  the  Empire,  those  governors  who  are  not  subordinate 
to  a  magistrate  with  higher  authority  than  their  own,  are  pro- 
consuls; those  who  have  a  higher  magistrate  above  them  are 
propraetors.  The  governors  of  the  senatorial  provinces  were  all 
proconsuls,  as  they  were  under  the  control  of  no  superior  magis- 
trate ;  whereas  the  governors  of  the  imperial  provinces  were  under 
the  proconsular  authority  of  the  Emperor  and  were  therefore  only 
propraators. 

The  distinction  between  governors  pro  consule  and  governors 
pro  prcetore  must  not  be  confused  with  the  distinction  between 
consular  and  prs&torian  provinces.  A  propraetor  might  be  either 
of  praetorian  or  of  consular  rank,  and  a  proconsul  might  be  either 


82  PROVINCIAL  ADMINISTRATION.          CHAP.  Yt 

of  consular  or  of  praetorian  rank.  In  the  case  of  the  senatorial 
provinces,  a  definite  line  was  drawn  between  consular  and  praetorian 
provinces.  It  was  finally  arranged  that  only  consulars  were 
appointed  to  Asia  and  Africa,  only  praetorians  to  the  rest.  In  the 
imperial  provinces,  the  line  does  not  seem  to  have  been  so  strict ; 
as  a  rule  the  praetorian  governor  commanded  only  one  legion,  the 
consular  more  than  one. 

The  proconsuls,  or  governors  of  the  provinces  which  the 
senate  a'lminis  ered,  were  elected,  as  of  old,  by  lot,  and  only 
held  office  for  a  year.  They  were  assisted  in  their  duties  by  legati 
and  quaestors  who  possessed  an  independent  proprastorian  imperium. 
The  proconsul  of  consular  rank  (attended  by  twelve  lictors)  had 
three  legati  (appointed  by  himseli)  and  one  quaestor  at  his  side; 
he  of  praetorian  rank  (attended  by  six  lictors)  had  one  legatus  and 
one  quaestor. 

The  governors  of  the  imperial  provinces  were  entitled  legati 
August i  pro  prcetore.*  They  were  appointed  by  the  Emperor,  and 
their  constitutional  position  was  that  the  Emperor  delegated  to 
them  his  imperium.  But  only  consulars  or  praetorians,  and  there- 
fore only  senators,  could  be  appointed.  Their  term  of  governorship 
was  not  necessarily  limited  to  a  year,  like  that  of  the  proconsuls, 
but  depended  on  the  will  of  the  Emperor.  The  financial  affairs 
of  the  imperial  provinces  were  managed  by  procu>atores,  generally 
of  equestrian  rank,  but  sometimes  freedmen.  There  were  also, 
for  jurisdiction,  legati  Augusti  juridici  of  senatorial  rank,  but  it 
is  not  certain  whether  they  were  instituted  under  Augustus. 

But  while  the  senate  had  no  part  in  the  administration  of  the 
imperial  provinces,  except  in  so  far  as  the  governors  were  chosen 
from  among  senators,  the  Emperor  had  powers  of  interfering  in  the 
affairs  of  the  senatorial  provinces  by  virtue  of  the  imperium  mains, 
which  he  possessed  over  other  proconsuls.  Moreover  he  could  levy 
troops  in  the  provinces  of  the  senate,  and  exercise  control  over  the 
taxation.  Tnus  the  supply  of  corn  from  Afdca,  a  senatorial 
province,  went  to  the  Emperor,  not  to  the  senate.  In  both  kinds 
of  provinces  alike  the  governors  combined  supreme  civil  and  military 
authority;  but  the  proconsuls  had  rarely,  except  hi  the  case  of 
Africa,  military  forces  of  any  importance  at  their  disposition. 

Thus  there  were  two  sets  of  provincial  governors,  those  who 
represented  the  senate  and  those  who  represented  the  Emperor.  It 
might  be  thought,  at  first  sight,  that  the  senatorial  governors  would 
be  jealous  of  the  imperial,  who  had  legions  under  them  and  a  longer 
tenure  of  office.  But  this  danger  was  obviated  by  the  important 
circumstance  that  the  legati  were  chosen  from  the  same  class  as  tha 

*  More  properly  legati  prnconmlis  pro  p*-sitors. 


THE  WESTERN  PHOVINf 


"V  ^fl£»"1**>;x««s»      -    ™t'*«  J/>    ^  "PKI-J* —      1 


"=**. 


Llgtrl 


are 


^ 


OF  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE. 


27  B.C.-U  A.D.         OALLIA   NAKBONENSIS.  88 

proconsuls,  and  thus  the  same  man  who  was  one  year  proconsul  of 
Asia,  might  the  next  year  be  appointed  legatus  of  Syria. 

§  4.  In  reviewing  the  provinces  of  the  Roman  Empire  we  may 
begin  with  the  western,  and  proceed  eastward.  With  the  exception 
of  Africa  and  Sardinia,  there  were  no  subject  lands  which  Augustus 
did  not  visit,  as  Caesar,  if  not  as  Augustus.  In  27  B.C.  he  went  to 
Gaul,  and  thence  to  Spain,  where  he  remained  until  24  B.C., 
conducting  the  Cantabrian  war.  Two  years  later  he  visited  Si<-ily, 
whence  he  proceeded  to  the  East,  Samos,  Asia,  and  Biihynia,  s  ttled 
the  Parthian  question,  and  returned  to  ?v,ome  in  19  B.C.  In  16  B.C. 
lie  made  a  second  visit  to  Gaul,  in  the  company  of  Tiberius,  and 
stayed  in  the  Gallic  provinces  for  throe  years.  In  10  B.C.  he  visited 
Gaul  again,  an^  iu  8  B.C.  for  the  fourth  time.  Henceforward  he 
did  not  leave  It  ly,  but  deputed  the  work  of  provincial  organisation 
to  those  whom  he  marked  out  to  be  his  successors. 


SECT.  II. — GAUL. 

§  5.  Augustus  divided  Gallia  into  four  provinces :  Narbonensis, 
Aquitania,  Lugudunensis,  and  Belgira.  In  22  B.C.  he  assigned 
Narbononsis  to  the  senate,  while  the  others  remained  under  imperial 
legati. 

Narbonensis  had  become  a  Roman  province  in  121  B.C.  United 
with  the  rest  of  Gaul  after  the  conquests  of  Julius  Caesar,  it  was 
now  restored  to  its  separate  being.  Through  the  civil  wars  it 
became  far  more  than  the  territory  of  Narbo;  for  the  federate  Greek 
state  of  Massilia,  which  possessed  most  of  the  coast-line,  was 
reduced  to  the  condition  of  a  provincial  town,  and  thereby 
Narbonensis  extended  from  the  Pynnees  to  the  Maritime  Alps. 
The  elder  Caesar  did  much  towards  Rom.ani-.ing  this  province.  To 
him  Narbo  owed  its  strength  and  prosperity,  and  he  founded  new 
cities,  possessing  Roman  citizenship,  chief  among  them  Arelate 
which  as  a  commercial  town  soon  took  the  place  of  her  older  Greek 
neighbour.  The  canton  system  of  the  Celts  was  gradually  super- 
sede! in  Narbonensis  by  ttie  Italian  system  of  city  communities, 
and  this  development  was  zealously  furthered  by  Augustus.  In  one 
interesting  case  we  can  see  the  process.  The  canton  of  the  Volcse 
is  first  organised  on  the  Italian  principle  under  | -rasters  (prcetor 
Volcarum)\  the  next  step  is  that  the  canton  of  the  Voices  is 
replaced  by  the  Latin  city  Nemausus,  which  is  now  Nimes.  The 
disappearance  of  the  canton  system  distinguishes  the  southern 
province  from  the  rest  of  Gaul,  and  is  pnrt  of  its  conspicuously 
Roman  character.  This  different  degree  of  Romanisation  had 


84  PROVINCIAL  ADMINISTRATION.          CHAP.  vi. 

probably  a  good  deal  to  do  with  the  marked  differences  between  the 
lands  of  the  langue  d'oc  and  those  of  the  langue  d'oui.  Yet  the 
Celts  of  Narbonensis  did  not  forget  their  national  gods ;  the  religion 
of  the  country  survived  long  in  the  south  as  well  as  in  the  north. 

Tres  Oallios.  The  three  imperial  provinces  were  often  grouped 
together  as  the  "  three  Gauls."  This  threefold  division  corresponded 
in  general  outline  to  the  ethnical  division,  which  Cassar  marks  at 
the  beginning  of  his  "  Gallic  War."  But  it  does  not  correspond 
wholly.  The  province  of  the  south-west  contains  Iberian  Aquitania, 
but  with  a  Celtic  addition.  The  Celtic  land  between  the  Liger  and 
the  Garumnais  taken  from  Celtica  and  annexed  to  Aquitania.  The 
province  Lugudunensis  answers  to  Caesar's  Celtica,  but  it  no  longer 
includes  all  the  Celts.  It  has  lost  some  on  the  south  side  to 
Aquitania,  and  others  on  the  north  to  the  third  division,  Belgica. 
Thus  Belgica  is  no  longer  entirely  Teutonic,  but  partly  Teutonic 
and  partly  Celtic.  These  three  districts  seem  at  first  to  have  been 
placed  under  the  single  control  of  a  military  governor,  who 
commanded  the  legions  stationed  on  the  Rhine  and  had  a  legatus 
in  each  province.  Drnsus  held  this  position  from  13  to  9  B.C.,  and 
Tiberius  succeeded  him  (9-7  B.C.).  Again,  from  13  to  17  A.D.  we 
find  Germanicus  holding  the  same  position.  It  is  possible  that  in 
the  intervening  years  this  military  control  was  suspended,  and  that 
the  legati  of  the  three  provinces  were  independent  of  any  superior 
but  the  Emperor,  as  they  certainly  were  after  17  A.D. 

In  imperial  Gaul  the  Roman  government  allowed  the  cantons  to 
remain,  and  ordered  their  administration  accordingly.  The  city 
system  was  not  introduced  iu  these  provinces  as  in  Narbonensis, 
and  the  progress  of  Romanisation  was  much  slower.  There  was  a 
strong  national  spirit;  the  religion  of  the  Druids  was  firmly  rooted; 
and  it  was  long  felt  by  Roman  rulers  that  the  presence  of  armies  OD 
the  Rhine  was  as  needful  to  prevent  a  rebellion  in  Gaul  as  to  ward 
off  a  German  invasion.  But  no  serious  attempt  was  made  by  the 
Celts  to  throw  off  the  yoke  of  their  Roman  lords.  An  Iberian 
rebellion  in  Aquitania  was  easily  suppressed  by  Messalla  Corvinus 
(about  27  B.C.),  and  perhaps  belongs  as  much  to  the  history  of 
Spain  as  to  that  of  Gaul.  The  Iberians  north  of  the  Pyrenees 
were  probably  in  communication  with  their  brethren  of  the  south. 
The  success  of  Messalla  was  rewarded  by  a  triumph. 

The  four  visits  of  Augustus  to  Gaul,  which  have  been  mentioned 
above,  and  that  of  Agrippa  in  19  B.C.,  show  how  much  the  thoughts 
of  the  Emperor  were  filled  with  the  task  of  organizing  the  country 
which  his  father  had  conquered  and  had  not  time  to  shape.  On  the 
occasion  of  his  first  visit  he  held  a  census  of  Gaul,  the  first  Roman 
census  ever  held  there,  in  order  to  regulate  the  taxes.  It  is  remark- 


27  B.O.-14  A.D.          THE  THREE  GAULS.  85 

able  that  the  policy  adopted  by  Borne  was  not  to  obliterate,  but  to 
preserve  a  national  spirit.  Not  only  was  the  canton  organisation 
preserved,  but  all  the  cantons  of  the  three  provinces  were  yoked 
together  by  a  national  constitution,  quite  distinct  from  the  imperial 
administration,  though  under  imperial  patronage.  It  was  in  the 
consulship  of  M.  Messalla  Barbatus  and  P.  Quirinius  (12  B.C.),  on 
the  first  day  of  August,  that  Drusus  dedicated  an  altar  to  Rome 
and  the  genius  of  Augustus*  beneath  the  hill  of  Lugudunum,  where 
the  priest  of  the  three  Gauls  should  henceforward  sacrifice  yearly, 
on  the  same  day,  to  those  deities.  The  priest  was  to  be  elected 
annually  by  those  whom  the  cantons  of  the  three  provinces  chose 
to  represent  them  in  a  national  concilium  held  at  Lugudunum. 
Among  the  rights  of  this  assembly  were  that  of  determining  the 
distribution  of  the  taxes,  and  that  of  lodging  complaints  against  the 
acts  of  imperial  officials.! 

The  city  which  was  thus  chosen  to  be  the  meeting-place  of  the 
Gallic  peoples  under  Roman  auspices,  Lugudunum,  stood  above  and 
apart  from  the  other  communities  of  imperial  Gaul.  She  gave  her 
name  to  one  of  the  three  provinces,  and  the  governor  of 
Lugudunensis  dwelt  within  her  walls ;  but  she  was  far  more  than 
a  provincial  residence.  Singular  by  her  privileged  position  as  the 
one  city  in  the  three  Gauls  which  enjoyed  the  rights  of  Roman 
citizenship  she  may  be  regarded  as  the  capital  of  all  three,  yet  not 
belonging  to  any.  Her  exalted  position  resembles  that  of  Rome  in 
Italy  rather  than  that  of  Alexandria  in  Egypt;  it  has  also  been 
compared  to  that  of  Washington  in  the  United  States.  She  and 
Carthage  were  the  only  cities  in  the  western  subject-lands  hi  which 
as  in  Rome  herself  a  garrison  was  stationed.  She  had  the  right  of 
coining  imperial  gold;  and  we  cannot  assert  this  of  any  other 
western  city.  Her  position,  rising  at  the  meeting  of  the  Rhone 
from  the  east  and  the  Arar  (Saoue)  from  the  north,  was  advan- 
tageous from  the  point  of  view  either  of  a  merchant  or  of  a  soldier. 
She  was  the  centre  of  the  road-system  of  Gaul,  which  was  worked 
out  by  Agrippa;  and  whenever  an  Emperor  visited  his  Gallic 
provinces,  Lugudunum  was  naturally  his  head-quarters. 

The  difference  in  development  between  the  Three  Gauls  and 
Narbonensis  — the  land  of  cantons  and  the  land  of  cities — is  well 
illustrated  by  the  town-names  of  France.  In  Narbonensis  the  local 
names  superseded  for  ever  the  tribal  names ;  Arelate,  Vienna, 
Valentia,  survive  in  Aries,  Vienne,  Valence.  But  in  imperial  Gaul, 
the  rule  is  that  the  local  names  fell  into  disuse,  and  the  towns  are 

*  Ara  Romee  et  Augusti.  |  said  to  have  enriched  himself  by  whole- 

f  Licinus,  a  freedmau  of  Augustus,  sale  extortion,  and  his  name  became 
ww  procurator  In  Gaul  in  16  B.C.  He  is  I  proverbial  for  wealth. 


86  PROVINCIAL    ADMINISTRATION.  CHAP,  vi, 

called  at  the  present  day  by  the  names  of  the  old  Gallic  tribes.  Lutetia, 
the  city  of  the  Parisii,  is  Paris ;  Durocortornm,  the  city  of  the  Remi,  is 
Rheims  ;  Avarieum,  the  city  of  the  Bituriges,  is  BourgeR. 

The  conqueror  of  Gaul  had  shown  the  way  to  the  conquest  of 
Britain;  but  this  work  was  reserved  for  another  than  his  son. 
One  of  the  objects  of  Augustus  in  visiting  Gaul  in  27  B.C.  was  to 
feel  his  way  towards  an  invasion  of  the  northern  island  ;  but  the 
project  was  abandoned.  The  legions  of  Augustus,  however,  though 
they  did  not  cross  the  channel,  crossed  the  Rhine;  but  the  story  of 
the  making  of  the  true  and  original  province  of  Germany  beyond 
the  Rhine  and  its  brief  duration,  and  of  the  forming  of  the  spurious 
Germanics  on  the  left  bank  of  the  river,  will  be  told  in  another 
chapter.* 


SECT.  III.— SPAIN. 

§  6.  Spain,  the  land  of  the  "  far  west "  in  the  old  world,  was  safe 
through  its  geographical  position  from  the  invasion  of  a  foe.  Almost 
enclosed  by  the  sea,  it  had'  no  frontier  exposed  to  the  menace  of  a 
foreign  power;  and  it  was  the  only  province  in  such  a  situation  that 
required  the  constant  presence  of  a  military  force.  For  though  the 
Romanising  of  the  southern  and  eastern  parts  had  advanced  with 
wonderful  rapidity,  the  intractable  peoples  of  the  north  -  western 
regions  refused  to  accept  the  yoke  of  the  conqueror,  and  held  out  in 
the  mountain  fastnesses,  from  which  they  descended  to  plunder 
their  southern  neighbours.  The  Cantabrians  and  the  Asturians 
were  the  most  important  of  these  warlike  races,  and.  when 
Augustus  founded  the  Empire,  their  territories  could  hardly  be 
considered  as  yet  really  under  the  sway  of  Rome.  Since  the  death 
of  Cffisar  arms  had  never  been  laid  down  in  Spain ;  commanders 
were  ever  winning  triumphs  there  and  ever  having  to  begin  anew. 
Augustus  found  it  needful  to  keep  no  less  than  three  legions  in  the 
country,  one  in  Cuntabria,  two  in  Asturia;  and  the  memory  of  the 
Asturian  army  still  abides  in  the  name  Zeon,  the  place  where  the 
legio  VII.  gemina  was  stationed. 

Before  Augustus,  the  province  of  Hispania  Ulterior  took  in  the 
land  of  the  Tagus  and  the  Durius  as  well  as  the  region  of  the 
Baetis.  This  division  was  now  altered.  First  of  all,  Gallaecia,  the 
north-western  corner,  was  transferred  from  the  Further  to  the 
Hither  province,  so  that  all  the  fighting  in  the  disturbed  districts  of 
the  north  and  north-west  might  devolve  upon  the  same  commander. 
The  next  step  was  the  separation  of  Lusitania,  and  its  organisation 
*  See  below,  Chap.  IX. 


27  B.C.-14  A.D. 


SPAIN. 


87 


as  a  distinct  imperial  province,  while  the  rest  of  Farther  Spain,— 
Beetica  as  it  came  to  he  called — was  placed  under  the  control  of  the 
senate.  Another  change  made  hy  Augustus  was  the  removal  of  the 
seat  of  government  in  Hither  Spain  from  New  Carthage  to  more 
northern  and  more  central  Tarraco,  whence,  from  this  time  forth,  the 
province  was  called  Tarraconensis.  Tarraco  became  in  this  province 
what  Lugudunum  was  in  Gaul,  the  chief  seat  of  the  worship  of 
Rome  and  Augustus,  and  the  meeting-place  of  the  proviucial 
concilium. 

Thus,  under  the  new  order  of  things,  Spain  consists  of  three 
provinces :  Bsetica,  senatorial :  Tarraconensis  and  Lusitania,  im- 
perial. This  arrangement  was  probably  not  completed  until  the  end 
of  the  Gantabrian  war,  which  lasted  with  few  interruptions  from 
29  to  25  B.C.,  only,  however,  to  break  out  again  a  year  or  two  later. 
A  rebellion  of  Cantabria  and  Asturia  was  suppressed  by  Statilius 
Taurus  in  29  B.C. ;  but  in  27  B.C.  disturbances  were  renewed 
and  the  Emperor  himself  hastened  from  Gaul  to  quell  the 
insurrection.  But  a  serious  illness  at  Tarraco  forced  him  to  leave 
the  conduct  of  the  war  to  his  legati,  probably  under  the  general 
direction  of  Agrippa.  A  fleet  on  the  north  coast  supported  the 
operations  by  land ;  and  by  degrees  the  fastnesses  of  the  Cantabrians 
fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Romans.  At  the  same  time  P.  Garisius 
subdued  the  Asturians. 

It  was  a  more  difficult  task  to  secure  a  lasting  pacification. 
Augustus  endeavoured  to  induce  the  mountain  peoples  to  settle  in 
the  plains,  where  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Roman  colonies  they 
might  be  tamed  and  civilized.  Such  centres  of  Roman  life  in  the 
north-west  were  Augusta  Asturica,  Bracara  Augusta,  Lucus  Augusti, 
memorials  of  the  Spanish  visit  of  Augustus,  and  still  surviving 
under  their  old  names  as  Astorga,  Braga,  and  Lugo.  The  chief 
inland  town*  of  eastern  Tarraconeiisis  was  the  work  of  the  same 
statesman ;  Saragossa,  on  the  Ebro,  still  preserves  the  name  of  the 
colony  of  Csesar  Augustus. 

But  the  Emperor  had  not  left  Spain  long  (24  B.O.)>  when  new 
disturbances  broke  out.f  They  were  promptly  put  down,  but  in 
22  B.O.  another  rebellion  of  the  Cantabrians  and  Asturians  called 
for  the  joint  action  of  the  governors  of  Tarraconensis  and  Lusitania. 
The  last  war,  and  perhaps  the  most  serious  of  all,  was  waged  two 
years  later,  and  demanded  the  leadership  of  Marcus  Agrippa  him- 
self (20-19  B.O.).  The  difficulty  was  at  first  aggravated  by  the 


*  The  other  Roman  cities  of  thi?  pro- 
vince were  on  the  coast1;  as  Barcino,  Tar- 
raco, Valentia,  New  Carthage. 

f*  Horace,  Ode*,  ii.  0.  2 :    Cautabrum 


indoctum  iutra  ferre  nostra;  11.  1 :  belii- 
cosus  Cantaber ;  iii.  8.  21 :  Servit  His- 
panae  vetus  hostis  one  Cantaber  sen 
domitus  catena. 


88  PROVINCIAL  ADMINISTRATION.  CHAP.  vi. 

mutiny  of  the  soldiers,  who  detested  the  weary  and  doubtful  war- 
fare in  the  mountains ;  and  it  required  all  the  military  experience 
of  the  general  to  restore  their  discipline  and  zeal.  After  many  losses 
the  war  was  successfully  ended  (19  B.C.),  and  the  hitherto 
"untameable"  Can tabrian  people  *  reduced  to  insignificance.  A 
few  disturbances  occurred  four  years  later,  but  were  easily  dealt 
with ;  yet  it  was  still  felt  to  be  needful  to  keep  a  strong  military 
force  in  northern  Spain. 

Roman  civilization  had  soon  taken  a  firm  hold  in  the  south  of 
Spain.f  The  contrast  of  Narbonensis  with  the  rest  of  Gaul  is  like 
the  contrast  of  Baetica  and  the  eastern  side  of  the  Hither  province 
with  the  rest  of  Spain.  But  Roman  policy  was  very  different  in 
the  two  countries ;  and  this  was  due  to  the  circumstance  that 
Spain  was  conquered  and  organised  at  an  earlier  period.  The 
Latinizing  of  Spain  had  been  carried  far  under  the  Republic ;  the 
Latinizing  of  Gaul  had  practically  begun  under  the  Empire.  In 
Gaul  the  tribal  cantons  were  allowed  to  remain ;  this  was  the 
policy  of  the  Caesars,  father  and  son.  In  Spain,  the  tribal  cantons 
were  broken  up  in  smaller  divisions;  this  was  the  policy  of  the 
republican  senate.  In  Gaul,  excluding  the  southern  province,  there 
were  no  Roman  cities  except  Lugudunum  ;  in  Spain  Roman  colonies 
were  laid  here  and  there  in  all  parts.  The  Gallic  fellows  of  Baetic 
Gades,  Corduba  and  Hispalis,  of  Lusitanian  Emerita  and  Olisipo,  of 
Tarraconese  Carthage,  Cassarangusta  and  Bracara,  must  be  sought 
altogether  (under  the  early  Empire)  in  the  smallest  of  the  four 
provinces  of  Gaul. 

In  Lusitania,  Augustus  founded  Emerita  Augusta,  a  colony  of 
veterans,  on  the  river  Anas  (Guadiana),  and  made  it  the  capital  of 
the  province.  The  other  chief  Roman  towns  of  Lusitania  were 
Olisipo,  since  promoted  to  be  the  capital  (Lisbon)  of  a  modern 
kingdom,  and  Pax  Julia,  now  represented  by  Beja.  Spain  was  not 
a  network  of  Roman  roads,  like  Gaul.  The  only  imperial  road  was 
the  Via  Augusta,  which  went  from  the  north  of  Italy  along  the 
coast  to  Narbo,  then  across  the  pass  of  Puycerda  to  Ilerda,  and 
on  by  Tarraco  and  Valentia  to  the  mouth  of  the  Bsetis.  The 
other  road-communication  necessary  in  a  fertile  and  prosperous 
country,  was  provided  by  the  local  communities.  The  Spanish 
peninsula  was  rich  not  only  in  metals,  but  in  wine,  oil,  and  corn. 
Gades  (Cadiz),  which  now  received  the  name  of  Augusta  Julia, 
was  one  of  the  richest  and  most  luxurious  towns  in  the  Empire. 


*  Horace,  Odes,  iv.  14.  41 :  Cantaber 
non  ante  domabilis.  Cp.  iv.  5.  27 :  Quis 
ferae  bellum  curet  Hiberise  ?  Epistles,  i. 
12.  26 :  Cantaber  Agrippse,  Claudi  virtute 
NeroniB  Armenius  cecidit. 


f  Strabo  says  (151)  that  "the  dwellers 
in  the  regions  of  the  Baetis  have  been  so 
thoroughly  Romanised  that  they  have 
actually  forgotten  their  own  tongue." 


V  B.C.-14  A.D  MAURETANIA  S9 


SECT.  IV — AFRICA.    SARDINIA.    SICILY. 

§  7.  From  Spain  one  naturally  goes  on  to  Africa.  Augustus  never 
visited  either  the  African  province  or  the  African  dependency,  but, 
before  he  left  Tarraco  (25  B.C.),  he  was  called  upon  to  deal  with 
African  affairs.  In  history  Spain  and  Africa  have  always  been 
closely  connected.  Sometimes  Spain  has  been  the  stepping-stone 
to  Africa,  oftener,  as  for  the  Phoenicians  and  the  Arabs,  Africa  has 
been  the  stepping-stone  to  Spain.  The  western  half  of  Mauretania 
was  really  nearer  to  the  European  peninsula  which  faced  it  than  to 
the  rest  of  the  African  coast ;  and  under  the  later  Empire  this  region 
went  with  Spain  and  Gaul,  not  with  Africa  and  Italy.  There  was  no 
road  between  Tingis  in  western  and  Caesarea  in  eastern  Mauretania : 
the  communication  was  by  sea.  And  so  it  was  that  the  Moorish 
hordes,  crossing  to  Baetica  in  their  boats,  were  more  dangerous  to 
Roman  subjects  in  Spain  than  to  those  in  Africa.  A  poet  of  Nero's 
time  describes  Bsetica  as  trticibus  obnoxia  Mauris.  For  though 
Spain,  as  has  been  already  said,  had  no  frontier  exposed  to  a  foreign 
power,  her  southern  province  had  as  close  neighbour  a  land  which, 
first  as  a  dependency  and  then  as  a  province,  was  inhabited  by  a 
rude  and  untamed  population. 

The  commands  which  Augustus  issued  from  the  capital  of  his 
Spanish  province  especially  regarded  Mauretania.  But  we  must 
call  to  mind  what  had  taken  place  in  Africa  since  the  dictator 
Caesar  ordered  it  anew.  He  had  increased  the  Roman  province  by 
the  addition  of  the  kingdom  of  Numidia,  and  the  river  Ampsaga 
was  fixed  as  the  western  boundary  between  New  Africa,  as 
Numidia  was  sometimes  called,  and  Mauretania.  This  latter 
country  was  at  that  time  under  two  kings.  Over  the  eastern  realm 
of  lol,  soon  to  be  called  by  Caesar's  name,  ruled  King  Bocchus ;  over 
the  western  realm  of  Tingis  ruled  King  Bogud.  Both  these  poten- 
tates had  taken  Caesar's  side  in  the  first  civil  war,  unlike  King  Juba  ; 
and  they  therefore  kept  their  kingdoms  after  Caesar's  victory.  But  in 
the  next  civil  war,  they  did  not  both  take  the  same  side.  Bocchus 
held  to  Caesar  the  son,  as  he  had  held  to  Caesar  the  father ;  but 
Bogud  supported  Antonius,  while  his  own  capital  Tingis  (Tangier) 
embraced  the  other  cause.  In  reward,  Bocchus  was  promoted  to 
kingship  over  the  whole  of  Mauretania ;  and  Tingis  received  the 
privilege  of  Roman  citizenship.  When  Bocchus  died  (33  B.C.),  his 
kingdom  was  left  kingless  for  a  season,  but  the  Roman  government 
did  not  think  that  the  time  had  yet  come  for  a  province  of 
Mauretania. 


90 


PROVINCIAL  ADMINISTBATION. 


CHAP, 


A  son  of  the  last  king  of  Numidia,  named  Juba,  like  his  father, 
had  followed  the  dictator's  triumph  through  the  streets  of  Borne, 
and  had  been  brought  up  under  the  care  of  Csesar  and  his  successor. 
He  served  in  the  Roman  army  ;  he  was  an  eager  student  of  Greek 
and  Roman  literature,  and  wrote  or  compiled  Greek  books  himself. 
On  him  Augustus  fixed  to  take  the  place  of  king  Bocchus.  If  it 
was  out  01  the  question  to  restore  him  to  his  paternal  kingdom  of 
Numidia,  he  should  at  least  have  the  next  thing  to  it,  the  kingdom 
of  Mauretania  ;  and  as  the  descendant  of  king  Massinissa,  he  would 
be  welcome  to  the  natives.  At  the  same  time  (25  B.C.)  Augustus 
gave  Mauretania  a  queen.  The  daughter  of  Antonius  and  the 
Egyptian  queen  had  followed  his  own  triumph,  as  Juba  had 
followed  his  lather's.  Named  Cleopatra  like  her  mother,  she  had 
been  protected  and  educated  by  the  noble  kindness  of  Octavia, 
whom  her  parents  had  so  deeply  wronged.  There  had  been  a 
peculiar  fitness,  as  has  been  well  remarked,  hi  the  union  of  the 
Numidian  prince  and  the  Egyptian  princess,  whose  fortunes  were 
so  like.  This  union  brought  about  the  strange  circumstance  that 
the  last  king  of  Mauretania,  Juba's  son,  bore  the  name  of  Ptolemy. 

Thus  Roman  dominion  in  Africa,  west  of  Egypt,  consisted 
under  Augustus  of  a  province  and  a  dej>endent  kingdom,  the  river 
Ampsaga,  on  which  Cirta  is  built,  forming  the  boundary.  The 
southern  boundaries  of  this  dominion  it  would  have  been  hard, 
perhaps,  for  Augustus  himself  to  fix,  inasmuch  as  there  were  no 
neighbouring  states.*  The  real  dominion  passed  insensibly  into 
a  "sphere  of  influence"  among  the  native  races,  who  were 
alternatively  submissive  and  hostile,  or,  as  the  Romans  would 
have  saiu,  rebellious. 

Against  these  dangerous  neighbours  of  the  interior,  Garamantes 
and  invincible  Ga3tulians,t  Transtagnenses  and  Musulami,  it  was 
necessary  to  keep  a  legion  in  Africa,  which  was  thus  distinguished 
as  the  only  senatorial  province  whose  proconsul  commanded  an 
army.  Two  expeditions  J  were  made  in  the  reign  of  Augustus 
against  these  enemies,  the  first  under  the  proconsul  L.  Cornelius 
Balbus  (19  B.C.),  against  the  Garamantes,  and  a  second  under 
P.  Sulpicius  Quiriiiiutf,  against  the  tribes  of  Marmarica  further 
east.  Balbus  performed  his  task  ably,  and  received  a  triumph, 
remarkable  as  the  la>t  granted  to  any  private  Homan  citizen. 

In   the  organisation  of  Gaul  and  Spain,  Rome   had  no  older 


*  There  was,  however,  a  kingdom  of 
the  Garamantes. 

.  .,.   ,,     .     .,  .     .. 
f  Virgil,  4M4  Iv.  40  : 

Hinc  Gastula?  urbes,  genus  insuperabile 
bello. 


Et  Numidte  infreni  cingunt  et  inhospit* 

Syrtls. 

1  There  was  also  some  warfare  in  an 
J^  year  .  for  ln  n  ^  L  Stmproviw 

Atratlnus  celebrated  a  triumph  for  Tio- 
torioe  won  in  Africa, 


27  B.O.-14  A.D.  AFBIOA.  91 

civilisation  to  build  upon.*  It  was  otherwise  in  Sicily  and  Africa. 
The  civilisation  of  Sicily,  when  it  became  Koman,  was  chiefly 
Greek,  but  partly  Phoenician  ;  tliat  of  Africa,  on  the  contrary,  was 
chiefly  Phoenician,  but  partly  Greek.  Accordingly  Rome  built  on 
Phoenician  foundations  in  the  lauds  wliich  she  won  from  Carthage, 
and  accepted  the  constitution  of  the  Phoenician  town  communities, 
just  as  she  accepted  the  cantons  in  Gaul.  But  there  was  a  re- 
markable likeness  hi  organisation  between  these  communities  and 
those  of  Italy,  so  that  the  transition  from  the  one  form  to  the  other 
was  soon  and  easily  accomplished.  Carthage,  whose  existence 
was  blotted  out  by  the  short-sighted  policy  of  the  republican 
senate,  had  been  revived  by  the  generous  counsels  of  Caesar,  to 
become  soon  the  capital  of  Roman,  as  it  had  been  of  Punic, 
Africa.  At  first  the  Phoenician  constitution  was  restored  to  her, 
but  she  soon  received  the  form  of  a  Roman  colonia,  and  grew  to 
be  one  of  the  greatest  and  most  luxurious  cities  of  western  Europe. 
Utica,  jealous  of  the  resurrection  of  her  old  rival,  was  made  a 
Koman  rnunicipium.  The  growth  of  Roman  life  hi  Africa  was 
also  furthered  by  the  settlement  of  colonies  of  veterans.  In  the 
original  province  may  be  mentioned  Clii]>ea,  and  Hippo  Diarrhytos ; 
in  Numidia,  Cirta  (f  onstantin?)  and  Sicca.  In  Roman  civilisation, 
Maurctania  vas  far  behind  her  eastern  neighbours ;  but  Augustus 
did  much  in  estr.V filing  colonies,  chiefly  on  the  coast.  These 
Roman  townb  of  Jk£  JL'Jtenia  owed  no  allegiance  to  the  native  king, 
but  depended  direc^y  on  the  governor  of  the  neighbouring 
province. 

Besides  the  Phoenician  towns,  and  the  towns  on  Italian  model, 
whether  municipia  or  colonies,  there  were  also  native  Libyan 
communities ;  but  these  stood  directly  under  the  control  of  the 
Roman  governors,  or  sometimes  were  placed  under  special  Roman 
prefects.  The  language  of  the  native  Berbers  was  still  spoken 
chiefly  in  the  regions  which  the  liomans  least  frequented;  it  was 
treated  by  the  conquerors  like  the  Iberian  in  Spain  and  the  Celtic 
in  Gaul.  The  language  of  communication  throughout  northern 
Africa  was  Phoenician  ;  but  Rome  refused  to  recognise  this  Asiatic 
tongue  as  an  official  language,  as  she  had  recognised  Greek  in 
her  eastern  provinces.  In  their  local  affairs  the  communities  might 
use  Phoenician ;  but  once  they  entered  into  imperial  relations,  Latin 
was  prescribed.  It  might  have  been  thought  that  Greek,  which 
was1  better  known  in  Africa  than  Latin  when  the  Romans  came, 
would  have  been  adopted  there  as  the  imperial  language  ;  but  the 
government  decreed  that  Africa,  like  Sicily,  was  to  belong  to  the 

*     Massilia    in   Gaul,  the   f»w  Greek  I  Spain,  do  not  affect  the  general  truth  of 
towns,  and  the  Phoenician  factories   in     this  statement. 


92  PROVINCIAL  ADMINISTRATION.  CHAP.  vi. 

Latin  West.  It  is  instructive  to  observe  that,  while  the  name  of 
the  Greek  queen  of  Mauretania  appears  on  coins  in  Greek,  that  of 
her  husband,  who  was  regarded  as  an  imperial  official,  is  always  in 
Latin. 

Africa  was  fertile  in  fruit,*  though  her  wine  could  not  compete 
with  the  produce  of  Spain  and  Italy.  In  corn  she  was  especially 
rich  and  shared  with  Egypt  and  Sicily  the  privilege  of  supplying 
Rome.  The  purple  industry  was  still  active,  chiefly  in  the  little 
island  of  Gerba,  not  destined,  indeed,  to  become  as  famous  as  the 
island  of  Tyre.  Juba  introduced  this  industry  on  the  western 
coast  of  his  kingdom.  The  general  wellbeiug  of  the  land  has 
ample  witnesses  in  the  remains  of  splendid  structures  which  have 
been  found  there,  in  all  parts,  such  as  theatres,  baths  and  trium- 
phal arches. 

§  8.  From  Africa  we  pass  to  another  province  in  which  Rome 
was  the  heiress  of  Carthage.  Sardinia  had  ceased  to  look  to  her 
African  ruler  in  238  B.C.,  and  had  become,  seven  years  later,  a 
Roman  province,  the  earliest  except  Sicily.  In  the  division  of  the 
provinces  in  27  B.C.,  Sardinia  and  Corsica  fell  to  the  senate  and 
Roman  people ;  but  the  descents  of  pirates  forced  Augustus  to  take 
the  province  into  his  own  hands  in  6  A.D.,  and  commit  it  to  the 
protection  of  soldiers.  He  did  not  place  it,  however,  under  a 
legatus  of  senatorial  rank,  but  only  under  &  procurator  of  equestrian 
rank.  It  was  destined  to  pass  again  to  the  senate  under  Nero,  but 
returned  to  the  Emperor  finally  in  the  reign  of  Vespasian.  These 
islands,  though  placed  in  the  midst  of  civilisation,  were  always 
barbarous  and  remote.  The  rugged  nature  of  Corsica,  the  pesti- 
lential air  of  its  southern  fellow,  did  not  invite  settlements  or 
visitors;  they  were  more  suited  to  be  places  of  exile,  and  they 
were  used  as  such.  Augustus  sent  no  colonies  thither,  and  did 
not  visit  them  himself.  The  chief  value  of  Sardinia  lay  in  its 
large  production  and  export  of  grain,  f 

§  9.  Very  different  was  the  other  great  island  of  the  Mediterranean, 
the  oldest  of  all  the  provinces  of  Rome,  the  land  whose  conquest 
led  to  the  further  conquests  of  Sardinia  and  of  Africa  herself.  It 
was  in  Sicily  that  the  younger  Cassar  established  his  position  in 
the  west ;  his  recovery  of  the  land,  on  which  Rome  depended  for 
her  grain,  first  set  his  influence  and  popularity  on  a  sure  foundation. 
As  Augustus,  he  visited  it  again  (B.C.  22),  and,  although  it  was  a 
senatorial  province,  ordered  its  affairs,  by  virtue  of  his  mains 
imperium,  at  Syracuse ;  perhaps  it  was  in  memory  of  this  visit 

*  Horace,  Ode*,  111.16. 81:  taperlo  fertllls  I  f  Horace,  odts,  1.-  31.  3 :  Oplm*  SM- 
Afric*.  I  diniic  segetes  feraces. 


15  B.O;-  CONQUEST  OF   R^TIA. 

that  he  gave  the  name  of  Syracuse  to  a  room  in  his  house  which 
he  used  as  a  retreat  when  he  wished  to  suffer  no  interruption. 
Roman  policy  had  decreed  that  Sicily  was  to  belong  to  the  Latin 
West,  not  to  the  Greek  East,  with  which  once  she  had  been  so 
constantly  connected  ;  and  for  centuries  to  come,  embosomed  in  the 
centre  of  the  Empire,  she  plays  no  part  in  history,  such  as  she  had 
played  in  the  past  and  was  destined  to  play  again  in  the  distant 
future. 


SECT.  V. — RJETIA,  NOEICUM,  AND  THE  ALPINE  DISTRICTS. 

§  10.  From  the  province  adjoining  Italy  on  the  south,  we  pass 
to  the  lands  on  its  northern  frontier,  which  it  devolved  upon 
Augustus  to  conquer  and  to  shape.  The  towns  of  northern  Italy 
were  constantly  exposed  to  the  descents  of  unreclaimed  Alpine 
tribes,  who  could  not  be  finally  quelled  as  long  as  they  possessed 
a  land  of  refuge  beyond  the  mountains,  among  the  kindred  bar- 
barians of  Rsetia.  For  the  security  of  Italy  it  was  imperative 
to  subdue  these  troublesome  neighbours,  and  in  order  to  do  so 
effectively  it  was  necessary  to  occupy  Rsetia  and  Vindelicia.  This 
task  was  accomplished  without  difficulty  in  15  B.C.,  by  the  stepsons 
of  the  Emperor.  Drusus  invaded  Rsetia  from  the  south:  and 
vanquished  the  enemy  in  battle.*  Tiberius,  who  was  then 
governor  of  Gaul,  marched  from  the  north  to  assist  him,  and  the 
Vindelici  were  defeated  in  a  naval  action  on  the  waters  of  the 
Lake  of  Brigantium.f  The  tribes  of  the  "  restless  Genauni "  and 
the  "  swift  Breuni  "  appear  to  have  played  a  prominent  part  in  the 
Vindelician  war.J  The  decisive  battle  which  gave  Raetia  to 
Rome  was  fought  near  the  sources  of  the  Danube,  under  "  the 
fortunate  auspices"  of  Tiberius,  on  the  1st  of  August.§  By 
these  campaigns  the  countries  which  corresponded  to  Bavaria, 
Tyrol,  and  eastern  Switzerland  became  Roman;  a  new  military 
frontier  was  secured,  and  direct  communications  were  established 
between  northern  Italy  and  the  upper  Danube  and  upper  Rhine. 
The  military  province  of  Rsetia  was  placed  under  an  imperial 
prefect,  and  the  troops  which  used  to  be  stationed  in  Cisalpine 
Gaul  could  now  be  transferred  to  an  advanced  position.  Augusta 


*   Horace,  Odes,  iv.  4.  17 : 

Nridere  Raetis  bella  suk>  Alpibus 
Drusum  gerentem  Vindelici. 
f  Now  Lake  Constance.     Brigantium 
it  Bregenz. 
J  Horace,  Odes,  iv.  14.  9  : 

Milite  nam  tuo 
Drusus  Gtenaunog,  impUcldum  genus. 


Breunosque  veloces  et  arces 

Alpibus  impositas  tremendis 
Deipcit  acer  plus  vice  simplici. 
$  Horace,  ib.  14  : 

Maior  Neronum  mox  grave  proellum 
'Commisit  immanesque  Rsetos 
Auspiciis  pepulit  secvmdi*. 


94  PROVINCIAL  ADMINISTRATION.  CHAP.  VL 

Vindelicum  was  founded  as  a  military  station  near  the  frontier  of 
the  new  province,  and  still  preserves  under  the  name  Augsburg  the 
name  of  the  ruler  who  did  so  much  for  Romanising  western 
Europe.  For  Romanising  Rsetia  itseif,  indeed,  neither  he  nor  his 
successors  did  much ;  no  Roman  towns  were  founded  here,  as  in 
the  neighbouring  province  of  Noricum. 

The  conquest  of  the  dangerous  Salassi,  who  inhabited  the  valley 
of  the  Duila,  between  the  Gralan  and  Pennine  Alps,  was  success- 
fully accomplished  by  Terentius  Murcna,  brother-in-law  of  Maecenas 
in  25  B.C.  The  people  was  exterminated,  cad  f.  body  of  praetorian 
soldiers  was  settled  in  the  valley,  through  wMc'%  roads  ran  over  the 
Graian  Alps  to  Lugudunum,  and  over  i\\&  Pennine  'nto  Raetia. 
The  new  city  was  called  Augusta  Pretoria  jCliO  iUmpcrors  name 
survives  in  the  modern  Aosta,  whore  the  old  llom^n  walls  and 
gates  are  still  to  be  seen.  The  western  Alps  b3twcen  Gaul  end 
Italy  were  formed  into  two  small  districts,  the  Maritime  Alps, 
and  the  Cottian  Alps,  of  which  the  former  was  governed  by 
imperial  prefects.*  At  first  the  Cottian  district  formed  a  de- 
pendent state,  not  under  a  Roman  commander,  but  undar  its  own 
prince  Cottius,  from  whom  it  derived  its  name  (regnum  Cottii). 
Owing  to  his  ready  submission,  he  was  left  in  possession  of  his 
territory,  with  the  title  prcefectus  civitatium.  His  capital  Segusio 
survives  as  Susa,  and  the  arch  which  he  erected  in  honour  of 
his  over-lord  Augustus  (8  B.C.)  is  still  standing.  Through  this 
"prefecture"  (as  it  seems  to  have  been)  ran  the  Via  Cottia 
from  Augusta  Taurinorum  (Turin)  to  Arelate  (Aries).  The  paci- 
fication of  the  Alps,  though  it  presented  nothing  brilliant  to 
attract  historians,  conferred  a  solid  and  lasting  benefit  on  Italy, 
and  Italy  gratefully  recognised  this  by  a  monument  which  she 
set  up  in  honour  of  the  Emperor  on  a  hill  on  the  Mediterranean 
coast,  near  Monaco.  The  reduction  of  46  Alpine  peoples  is  recorded 
in  the  inscription,  which  has  been  preserved. 

Few  relics  of  the  Roman  occupation  have  been  found  in  Raetia ; 
it  is  otherwise  wita  the  neighbouring  province  of  Noricum,  which 
included  the  lands  now  called  Styria  and  Carimhia,  along;  with  a 
part  of  Carniola  and  most  of  Austria.  Here  traffic  had  prepared 
the  way  for  Roman  subjugation ;  Roman  customs  and  the  Latin 
tongue  were  known  beyond  the  Carnic  Alps,  and  when  the  time 
came  for  the  land  to  become  directly  dependent  on  Rome,  no 
difficulty  was  experienced.  An  occasion  presented  itself  in  16  B.C., 
when  some  of  the  Noric  tribes  joined  their  neighbours  the 

There  was  also  the  district  of  the  i  does  not  seem  to  nave  been  organised  as 
Qraian  Alps,  under  a  procurator;  but  it  |  early  as  the  time  of  Augustus. 


25  B.O.-M  AJft, 


NORICUM. 


95 


Pannonians  in  a  plundering  incursion  into  I  stria.*  At  first  treated 
as  a  dependent  kingdom,  Noricum  soon  passed  into  the  condition 
of  an  imperial  province  under  a  pefect  or  procurator,  but  continued 
to  be  called  regnum  Noricum.  No  legions  were  stationed  in  either 
Rsetia  or  Noricum,  ouly  auxiliary  troops;  but  the  former  province 
was  held  in  check  by  legions  of  the  Rhine  army  at  Vindonissa,f  and 
Noricum  was  likewise  surveyed  by  legions  of  the  Pannonian  army, 
stationed  at  Poetovio,  on  the  Drava  (Drave).  The  organisation  of 
Noricum  on  the  model  of  Italy  was  carried  out  by  the  Emperor 
Claudius.  The  land  immediately  beyond  the  Julian  Alps,  with 
the  towns  of  Emona  and  Nauportus,  belonged  to  Illyricum,  not  to 
Noricum.  but  it  subsequently  became  a  part  of  Italy. 

The  occupation  of  Rfetia  and  Noricum  was  of  great  and  perma- 
nent importance  for  the  military  defence  of  the  Empire  against  the 
barbarians  of  central  Europe.  A  line  uf  communication  was  secured 
between  the  armies  on  the  Danube  and  the  armies  on  the  Rhine. 


SBOT.  VL — ILLYRICUM  AND  THE  HMMUB  LANDS. 

§  11.  PANNONIA  AND  DALMATIA. — The  subjugation  of  Illyricum 
was  the  work  of  the  first  Emperor.  Istria  and  Dalmatia  were 
counted  as  Roman  lands  under  the  Republic,  but  the  tribes  of  tlie 
interior  maintained  their  independence,  and  plundered  their  civilised 
neighbours  in  Macedonia.  Roman  legions  had  been  destroyed,  and 
the  eagles  captured  by  these  untamed  peoples,  in  48  B.C.  under 
Gabinius,  and  in  44  B.C.  under  Vatinius..  To  avenge  these  defeats 
was  demanded  by  Roman  honour,  and  to  pacify  the  interior  districts 
was  demanded  by  Roman  policy.  The  young«  r  Caesar  undertook 
this  task,  when  he  had  dealt  with  Sextus  Pompeius,  and  d  scharired 
it  with  energy  and  success.  In  35  B.C.  he  subdued  the  smaller 
tribes  all  along  the  Hadrintic  coast,  beginning  with  Doclea  (which 
is  now  Montenegro)  near  the  borders  of  the  Macedonian  province, 
and  ending  with  the  lapydes  who  lived  in  the  Alpine  d  strict  north- 
east of  Istria.  At  the  same  time  his  fleet  subdued  the  pirates  \\ho 
infested  the  coast  islands,  especially  Ctirzola  and  Meleda.  The 
lapydes,  whose  depredations  extended  to  northern  Italy,  and  who 
had  ventured  to  attack  places  like  Teriieste  and  Aquileia,  off  red  a 
strenuous  resistance.  When  the  Roman  army  approached,  most  of 
the  population  assembled  in  their  town  Arupinm,  but  as  Csesar 
drew  nearer  fled  into  the  forests.  The  strong  fortress  of  Metulum,J 


*  The  "Node  sword"  was  proverbial. 
Op.  Horace.  Odes,  1. 16, 9,  and  Epode*.  xvii. 
11. 


f  The  name  is  preserved  in  Windisch 
east  of  Basel. 
i  Mottling. 


96  PROVINCIAL  ADMINISTRATION.  CHAP  vi 

built  on  two  summits  of  a  wooded  hill,  gave  more  trouble.  It  was 
defended  by  a  garrison  of  3000  chosen  warriors,  who  foiled  all  the 
Roman  plans  of  attack,  until  Caesar,  with  Agrippa  by  his  side,  led  his 
soldiers  against  the  walls.  On  this  occasion  Caesar  received  some 
bodily  injuries.  The  energy  of  the  Romans,  inspirited  by  the 
example  of  their  leader,  induced  the  besieged  to  capitulate;  but 
when  the  Romans  on  entering  the  town  demanded  the  surrender  of 
their  arms,  the  lapydes,  thinking  that  they  were  betrayed,  made  a 
desperate  resistance  in  which  most  of  them  were  slain ;  and  the 
remainder,  having  slain  the  women  and  children,  set  fire  to  their 
town. 

Having  thus  subdued  the  lapydes,  Caesar  marched  through  their 
country  down  the  river  Colapis  (Kulpa),  which  flows  into  the 
Save,  and  laid  siege  to  the  Pannonian  fortress  of  Siscia  (whose 
name  is  preserved  in  Sissek),  situated  at  the  junction  of  the  two 
streams.  It  was  not  the  first  time  that  a  Roman  force  had  appeared 
before  the  walls  of  Siscia,  but  it  was  the  first  time  that  a  Roman 
force  did  not  appear  in  vain.  Having  thrown  a  bridge  across  the 
river,  Caesar  surrounded  the  stronghold  with  earthworks  and  ditches, 
and  with  the  assistance  of  some  tribes  on  the  Danube,  got  together 
a  small  flotilla  on  the  Save,  so  that  he  could  operate  against  the 
town  by  water  as  well  as  by  land.  The  Pannonian  friends  of  the 
besieged  place  made  an  attempt  to  relieve  it,  but  were  beaten  back 
with  loss ;  and  having  held  out  for  thirty  days,  Siscia  was  taken  by 
storm.  A  strong  position  was  thus  secured  for  further  operations, 
whether  against  the  Pannonians,  or  against  the  Dacians.  A  Roman 
fortress  was  built,  and  garrisoned  with  twenty-five  cohorts  under 
the  command  of  Fufius  Geminus.  Caesar  returned  to  Italy  towards 
the  end  of  the  year  (35  B.C.),  but  during  the  winter  the  conquered 
Pannonian  tribe  rebelled,  and  Fufius  came  into  great  straits.  Dark 
rumours  of  his  situation,  for  he  was  unable  to  send  a  sure  message, 
reached  Caesar,  who  was  at  that  moment  planning  an  expedition  to 
Britain.  He  immediately  hastened  to  the  relief  of  Siscia,  and  let 
the  Britannic  enterprise  fall  through.  Having  delivered  Fufius 
from  the  danger,  he  turned  to  Dalmatia  and  spent  the  rest  of  the 
year  34  B.C.  in  reducing  the  inland  tribes,  which  now,  forgetting 
their  tribal  feuds,  combined  in  a  great  federation  to  fight  for  their 
freedom.  They  mustered  an  army  12,000  strong,  and  took  up  a 
position  at  Promona  (now  Teplin,  north-east  of  Sebenico)  a  place  im- 
pregnable by  nature,  and  strengthened  further  by  art.  The  name  of 
their  leader  was  Versus.  By  a  skilful  piece  of  strategy  Caesar  forced 
the  enemy  to  give  up  their  advanced  lines  of  defence,  and  retreat 
into  the  fortress,  which  he  prepared  to  reduce  by  starving  the 
garrison  out  and  for  this  purpose  built  a  wall  five  miles  iu 


27  B.O.-14  A.D.  ILLTBIOUH.  9? 

circuit.  Another  large  Dalmatian  force  under  Testimus  came  to 
relieve  the  place,  but  was  completely  defeated.  The  defenders  of 
Promona  simultaneously  made  an  excursion  against  the  besiegers, 
but  were  driven  back,  and  some  of  their  pursuers  penetrated  into 
the  fortress  with  them.  A  few  days  later  it  was  surrendered.  The 
fall  of  Promona  put  an  end  to  the  war,  in  so  far  as  it  was  waged  by 
the  Dalmatians  in  common.  But  warfare  continued  here  and 
there;  various  tribes  and  fortresses  held  out  by  themselves.  It 
was  necessary  to  besiege  Setovia,  and  Caesar  was  wounded  there  in 
his  knee.  He  returned  after  this  to  Rome,  to  enter  upon  his  second 
consulship  (33  B.C.),  leaving  the  completion  of  his  work  to  Statiiius 
Taurus,  who  for  his  services  on  this  occasion  received  a  large  share 
in  the  Illyrian  spoils,  and  laid  the  foundation  of  his  great  wealth. 
But  Csesar  laid  down  his  consulate  on  the  very  day  on  which  he 
assumed  it,  and  returned  to  Dalmatia,  in  order  to  receive  the  sub- 
mission of  the  conquered  peoples.  The  eagles  which  had  been 
captured  from  the  army  of  Gabinius  were  restored,  and  700  boys 
were  given  to  the  conqueror  as  hostages. 

The  civilising  of  these  Illyrian  lands  was  now  begun  in  earnest; 
the  chief  towns  on  the  coast  were  raised  to  the  position  of  Italian 
communities;  and  a  new  epoch  began  in  the  history  of  Salonse, 
lader,  Pola,  Tergeste,  and  other  places,  which  made  their  mark  in 
the  later  history  of  Europe.  It  was  now,  doubtless,  that  colonie£ 
were  settled  at  Salonae,  Pola  and  Emona.  Thus  Salonge  became  in 
full  official  language,  Colonia  Martia  Julia  Salonse,  and  Emona — 
which  corresponds  to  Laibach,  the  capital  of  Carniola — became 
Colonia  Julia  Emona.  Pola,  called  Colonia  Pietas  Julia  Pola; 
may  have  become  in  some  measure  for  lllyricum,  what  Luguj 
dunum  was  for  the  Three  Gauls,  in  so  far  as  a  temple  of  Rome 
and  Augustus  was  built  there  during  the  lifetime  of  the  first 
Emperor. 

A  change  was  also  made  in  the  administration  of  lllyricum 
Hitherto  it  had  been  joined  to  the  government  of  Cisalpine  Gaul, 
with  the  exception  of  a  small  strip  of  land  in  the  south  of  Dalmatia; 
which  was  annexed  to  Macedonia.  But  after  Caesar's  campaigns, 
IllyricuMi  was  promoted  to  the  dignity  of  a  separate  province, 
bounded  by  the  Savus  in  the  north  and  the  Drilo  in  the  south.  At 
the  division  of  provinces  in  27  B.C.  it  was  assigned  to  the  senate. 
But  in  the  nature  of  things  it  could  not  long  remain  senatorial. 
The  presence  of  legions  on  the  northern  frontier  could  not  be 
dispensed  with,  and  it  devolved  upon  the  governor  to  watch  over 
Noricum  on  the  one  hand  and  Mcesia  on  the  other.  Such  powers 
and  responsibilities  were  not  likely  to  be  left  to  a  proconsul :  and 


98  PROVINCIAL  ADMINISTRATION.          CHAP.  vi. 

accordingly  soon  after  the  conquest  of  Rsetia,  when  hostilities  in 
Pannonia  seemed  likely  to  break  out,  we  find  Agrippa  sent  thither 
(13  B.C.),  invested  *'  with  greater  powers  than  all  the  governors  out 
of  Italy."  The  terror  of  Agrippi's  name  held  the  Pannonians  in 
check,  but  on  his  death  in  the  following  year  they  took  up  arms, 
and  Tiberius  was  appointed  to  succeed  Agrippa.  He  brought  the 
rebellious  tribes  to  submission,  but  in  the  next  year  (11  B.C.)  was 
again  compelled  to  take  the  field  against  them,  and  also  to 
suppress  a  revolt  of  the  Dalmatians.  These  events  led  to  the 
transference  of  Illyricum  from  the  senate  to  the  Emperor.  Both  the 
Dalmatian  subjects  and  the  Pannonian  neighbours  required  the 
constant  presence  of  military  forces.  At  the  same  time  the  northern 
frontier  of  the  province  advanced  from  the  Savus  to  the  Dravus,  in 
consequence  of  the  successes  of  Tiberius  in  his  three  campaigns 
(12-10  B.C.).  Poetovio,  on  the  borders  of  Noricum,  now  became  the 
advanced  station  of  the  legions,  instead  of  Siscia.  This  extension  of 
territory  soon  led  to  a  division  of  Illyricum  into  two  provinces,  Pan- 
nonia and  Dalmatia,  both  imperial.  The  government  of  Pannonia 
was  specially  important,  because  the  intervention  of  the  legatus 
might  be  called  for  either  in  Noricum  or  in  Moasia.  It  is  well  to 
notice  that  the  nam-e  lllvricum  was  used  in  two  ways.  In  its 
stricter  sense  it  included  Pannonia  and  Dalmatia;  in  a  wider 
sense  (and  specially  for  financial  purposes)  it  took  in  Noricum 
and  Moesia,  as  coming  within  the  sphere  of  the  governors  of 
Illyricum  proper. 

§  12.  MCESIA  AND  THRACK. — The  governors  of  Macedonia  under 
the  Republic  were  constantly  troubled  by  the  hostilities  of  the  rude 
Illyric  and  Thracian  peoples  on  the  north  and  east.  The  Dardanians 
of  the  upper  Margus,  the  Dentheletas  of  the  Strymon,  the  Triballi 
between  the  Timacus  and  the  (Escus,  the  Bessi  beyond  Rhodope 
were  troublesome  neighbours.  The  lands  between  the  Danube  and 
Mount  Hsemus,  which  now  form  the  principality  of  Bulgaria,  were 
inhabited  by  the  Moesians,  and  beyond  the  Danube  was  the 
dominion  of  the  Dac'ans,  whom  the  Romans  had  reason  to  regard 
as  a  most  fornrdable  enemy.  The  Thracians  in  the  south,  the 
Moesians  in  the  centre,  and  the  Dacians  in  the  north,  were  people 
of  the  same  race,  speaking  the  same  tongue.  It  was  evidently 
a  very  important,  matter  for  the  Roman  government  to  break 
this  line,  and  to  brins  Mce^ia  and  Thrace  directly  or  indirectly 
under  Roman  sway,  so  as  to  make  the  Ister  the  frontier  of  the 
Empire. 

The  occasion  of  the  conquest  of  Moesia  was  an  invasion  of  the 
Bastarnse,  a  powerful  people,  perhaps  of  German  race,  who  lived 


27  B.C.— H  AOX, 


MCESIA. 


99 


between  the  Danube  and  the  Dniester,  in  29  B.O.  As  long  as  they 
confined  their  hostilities  to  the  Moesians,  Dardanians,  and  Triballi, 
the  matter  did  not  concern  the  governor  of  Macedonia,  Marcus 
Licinius  Crassus,  grandson  of  the  rival  of  Pompey  and  Caesar.  But 
when  they  attacked  the  Dentheletse,  allies  of  Home,  he  was  called 
on  to  interfere.  The  Bastarnaa  retired  at  his  command,  but  he 
followed  them  as  they  retreated  and  defeated  them  where  the  river 
Cibrus  flows  into  the  Danube.  But  at  the  same  time  he  turned  his 
arms  against  Mcesia,  and  reduced,  not  without  considerable  toil  and 
hardships,  almost  all  the  tribes  of  that  country.  He  had  also  to 
deal  with  the  Serdi,  who  dwelt  in  the  centre  of  the  peninsula  under 
Mount  Scomius,  in  the  direct  way  between  Macedonia  and  Moesia. 
These  he  conquered,  and  took  their  chief  place,  Seidica,  which  is  now 
SoHa,  the  capital  of  Bulgaria.  He  was  also  compelled  to  reduce  the 
unfriendly  tribes  of  Thrace.  In  that  country  the  worship  of 
Dionysus  was  cultivated  with  wild  enthusiasm,*  and  the  possession 
of  one  specially  venerable  grove,  consecrated  to  that  god — perhaps 
the  very  grove  in  which  Alexander  the  Great  had  once  sacrificed — 
was  a  subject  of  discord  between  two  powerful  rival  tribes,  the 
Odrysas  and  the  Bessi.  The  B  ssi  were  then  in  possession ;  but 
Crassus  took  the  sacred  plac^  from  them  and  gave  it  to  the  friendly 
Odrysaa,  and  constituted  their  prince  the  representative  of  Roman 
power  in  Thrace,  with  lordship  over  the  other  peoples,  and  protector 
of  the  Greek  towns  on  the  coast.  Thus  Thrace  became  a  depen- 
dent kingdom. 

That  Moesia  also  became,  at  first,  a  dependency  of  the  same  kind, 
before  she  became  a  regular  province,  seems  likely.  The  Greek 
cities  on  the  coast  were  probably  placed  under  the  protection  of  the 
Thracian  kingdom,  while  the  rest  of  Mcesia  and  Triballia  may  have 
been  united  under  one  of  the  native  princes.f  After  27  B.C.  it 
would  doubtless  have  devolved  upon  the  governor  of  lilyricum,  no 
longer  upon  the  governor  of  Macedonia,  to  intervene  in  case  of 
need. 

The  submission  of  the  Thracians  was  not  permanent,  and  the 
Odrysians  were  not  equal  to  the  task  imposed  upon  them.  The 
Bessi  longed  to  recover  the  sanctuary  of  Dionysus,  and  a  sacred 
war  broke  out  in  13  B.C.,  which  resulted  in  the  overthrow  of  the 
princes  of  the  Odrysae.  The  suppression  of  this  insurrection  ought 


*  Horace  refers  to  their  drunken  brawls 
in  Odes,  L  27.  1 : 

Natis  in  usum  laetitiae  scyphis 
Pagnare  Tbracum  est. 
Cp.  ii.,  7.  26 :  Non  ego  sanius  bacchabor 


Edonis.     The   Edoni   were  a    Thracian 
tribe. 

f  Possibly  with    the   title   prstfectus 
civitatium  Maesix  et  Tribollix;  like  the 

title  of  Cottiua. 


100 


PBOVINOIAL   ADMINISTRATION. 


CHAP.  VL 


perhaps  to  have  devolved  upon  the  governor  of  Illyricum,  but  he 
had  his  hands  full  in  his  own  province  ;  the  proconsul  of  Macedonia 
had  no  army  at  his  disposal.  Accordingly  recourse  was  had  to  the 
troops  stationed  in  Galatia,  and  Lucius  Piso,  the  imperial  legatus  in 
that  province,:}:  was  summoned  to  cross  into  Europe  and  quell  the 
insurgents  who  were  threatening  to  invade  Asia,  having  established 
themselves  in  theThracian  Chersonese  (11  B.C.).  Piso  put  down  the 
revolt  successfully,  and  it  was  probably  soon  after  this  that  Moesia 
was  converted  into  a  regular  Roman  province,  though  Thrace  still 
remained  under  the  rule  of  the  dependent  Odrysian  prince  Rhceme- 
talces,  who,  with  his  son  Gotys,  was  devotedly  attached  to  Rome 
and  unpopular  in  Thrace. 

Thrace,  though  not  yet  Greek,  must  even  now  be  reckoned  to  the 
Greek  half  of  the  Roman  world.  But  its  close  connection  with 
Moesia  naturally  led  us  to  consider  it  in  this  place,  rather  than  in 
the  following  chapter.  Moesia  itself  belonged  partly  to  the  Latin, 
and  partly  to  the  Greek  division.  The  cities  which  grew  under 
Roman  influence  in  western  Mcesia  were  Latin ;  the  cities  on  the  coast 
of  the  Pontus  were  Greek,  and  formed  a  distinct  world  of  then*  own. 
But  most  of  the  inhabitants  of  these  cities  were  not  Greeks,  but  Getae 
and  Sarmatiaus,  and  even  the  true  Greeks  were  to  some  extent 
barbarised  by  intercourse  with  the  natives.§  The  poet  Ovid,  who 
was  banished  to  Tomi,  gives  a  lively  description  of  the  wild  life 
there — the  ploughmen  ploughing  armed,  the  arrows  of  ferocious 
marauders  flying  over  the  walls  of  the  town,  natives  clad  in  skins, 
and  equipped  with  bow  and  quiver,  riding  through  the  streets. 
Getic  continued  to  be  spoken  in  Moesia  long  after  the  Roman 
conquest,  like  Illyric  in  Illyricum ;  and  Ovid  pays  that  it  was 
quite  needful  for  any  one  resident  in  Tomi  to  know  it.  He  wrote 
himself  a  poem  in  the  Getic  tongue ;  and  we  should  be  glad  to 
barter  some  of  his  Latin  elegiacs  for  his  exercise  in  that  lost 
language. 

§  13.  Trie  subjugation  of  the  vast  extent  of  territory,  reaching 
from  the  sources  of  the  Rhine  to  the  mouths  of  the  Danube,  was  a 
military  necessity.  The  conquest  of  each  province,  while  it  served 
some  immediate  purpose  at  the  time,  was  also  part  of  an  immense 
scheme  lor  the  defence  of  the  Empire  from  the  Northern  Ocean  to 


J  Thus  we  may  best  explain  the  state- 
ment oi  Dion,  that  Piao  was  governing 
Pamphylia,  and  was  ordf-red  thence 
to  Thrace.  Mommsen,  rejecting  this 
statement,  regards  Piso  as  legatus  of 
Mcesta. 


$  Horace  describes  the  Getse  thus,  Odes 
iii.  24.  11: 

lligidi  Getes, 
Imme-ata  quibus  iugera  liberas 

Fruges  et  Cererem  ferunt, 
Nee  cultura  placet  longior  annua,  &c. 


27  B.C.-U  A.D. 


THKACB. 


101 


the  Euxine.  It  was  designed  that  the  armies  in  Pannonia  should 
be  in  constant  touch  with  the  armies  on  the  Rhine,  and  that 
operations  in  both  quarters  should  be  carried  out  in  connection. 
Central  Europe  and  the  Germans  who  inhabited  it  presented  a  hard 
and  urgent  problem  to  the  Roman  government;  but  before  telling 
how  they  attempted  to  solve  it,  it  will  be  well  to  complete  our  survey 
of  the  subject  and  dependent  lands. 


Coin  :  Altar  of  Rome  and 


at  Lugudunum. 


Triumph  of  Tiberius. 


CHAPTER  VIL 

PROVINCIAL  ADMINISTRATION  (continued). 
PROVINCES  AND   EGYPT. 


THE  EASTERN 


§  1.  Function  of  Roman  rule  in  the  East.  §  2.  MACEDONIA,  ACHAIA,  and 
FREK  GREEK  STATES.  Nicopolis  and  the  Actian  games.  The  Delphic 
Amphictyonv.  §  3.  ASIA  and  BITHYNIA.  T»e  provincial  diets.  Asi- 
archs  and  Bithynitrc'is.  §  4.  GALATIA  and  PAMPHYLIA.  §  5.  The 
dependent  states  in  Asia  Minor  ;  the  LYCIAN  CONFEDERACY  ;  CAPPA- 
DOCIA;  PONTUS;  PAPHLAGONIA;  LITTLE  ARMENIA.  The  states  of 
the  Tauric  peninsula  ;  BOSPORUS  and  CHERSONESUS.  §  6.  The  in-ular 
provinces,  CYPRUS  and  CRETE,  with  CYRENK.  §  7.  SYRIA,  and  the 
neighbouring  dependent  states :  Nabatea,  Judea,  Commagene,  Chalcis, 
Abila,  Emesa,  Palmyra.  King  Herod  and  his  Hellenism.  §  8.  EGYPT. 

§  1.  THE  Romans,  who  were  the  teachers  of  the  peoples  whom  they 
conquered  in  the  West,  were  themselves  pupils  in  the  East.  In 
Gaul,  in  Spain,  in  northern  Italy,  in  Illyricum  th^y  b'oke  new 
ground  and  appeared  as  the  pioneers  of  civilisation;  hut  in  the 
eastern  countries  which  came  under  their  dominion  they  entered 
upon  an  inheritance,  which  they  were  called  upon  indeed  to 


THE  EASTERN  PROVINCE 


\ 


sri     I  O 


«(ta%M^f 


A   I    C    A 


lf> 


A««P* 


27  B.C.-U  A.D. 


MACEDONIA. 


103 


preserve  and  improve,  but  where  there  was  no  room  for  them  to 
originate  new  ideas  of  development.  Rome  merely  carried  on  the 
work  of  Alexander  the  Great  and  his  successors,  and  she  was  proud 
to  be  entrusted  with  the  task.  She  not  only  left  Greek  what  was 
already  Greek,  but  she  endeavoured  to  spread  Greek  civilisation  in 
those  parts  of  her  eastern  lands  where  it  had  not  taken  root.  The 
sole  exception  to  this  rule  of  policy  was  Sicily  ;  and  this  was  due  to 
its  geographical  position. 

The  subject  lands  of  the  east  naturally  fall  into  four  groups  :  (1) 
Macedonia  and  Greece  ;  (2)  Asia  Minor,  in  connection  with  which 
may  be  considered  the  Tauric  peninsula  ;  (3)  Syria  and  the  neigh- 
bouring vassal  kingdoms ;  (4)  Egypt,  \vhich  stands  by  itself  both 
geographically  and  because,  strictly  speaking,  it  was  not  a  province. 


SECT.  I. — MACEDONIA,  ACHAIA,  AND  THE  FREE  GREEK  STATES. 

§  2.  The  institution  of  the  Empire  was  attended  by  a  change  in 
the  administration  of  Macedonia  and  Greece,  which  under  the 
Republic  had  formed  one  large  province.  Augustus  divided  it  into 
two  smaller  provinces,  Macedonia  and  Achaia,  both  of  which  he 
assigned  to  the  senate.  This  division,  however,  did  not  altogether 
coincide  with  the  boundary  between  Greece  and  Macedonia.  The 
province  of  Achaia  was  smaller  than  Hellas,  and  the  new  province 
of  Macedonia  larger  tl>an  Macedonia  pioper.  For  Thessaly, 
^tolia,  Acarnania  and  Epirus  *  were  placed  under  the  rule  of  the 
northern  proconsul.  Thus  Mount  (Eta,  instead  of  Mount  Olympus, 
was  the  boundary  between  Macedonia  and  Greece. 

Imperial  Macedonia  was  thus  smaller  in  extent  and  importance 
than  republican  Macedonia.  It  also  lost  its  military  significance 
as  a  frontier  district,  through  the  extension  of  Roman  rule  over  the 
neighbouring  lands  north  tmd  east.  Greek  civilisation,  though  it 
had  flourished  for  centuries  in  the  old  cities  on  both  the  seas  which 
wash  the  coasts  of  Macedonia,  never  penetrated  far  into  the  high- 
lands. Eastward  of  Apollonia  and  Dyrrhachium,  northward  of 
Thessalonica  and  the  Chalcidic  peninsula,  there  were  few  Greek 
cities  to  form  centres  of  culture.  Augustus  settled  colonies  of 
Roman  citizens  in  many  of  the  old  Greek  towns ;  in  Dyrrhachium, 
the  old  Epidamnos,  and  in  Byllis,  on  the  Adriatic  coast ;  in  Thracian 
Philippi ;  in  Pella ;  in  Dium  on  the  Thermaic  gulf;  in  Cassandria  on 


*  The  position  of  Epirus  in  the 
provincial  scheme  under  the  early  empire 
cannot  be  determined  with  certainty.  It 
seems  probable  that  most  of  Epirus  be- 


longed to  Macedonia.  Tacitus,  bowerer, 
ep.-aks  of  Nicopolis  as  a  city  of  Achala 
(Ann.,  ii.  53),  in  17  A.D.  But  Nicopolls 
held  a  singular  position. 


104  PROVINCIAL  ADMINISTRATION.       OBI*,  m 

tbe  bay  of  Pagasae.  But  his  purpose  was  merely  to  provide  for 
veteran  soldiers,  not  to  Romanise  the  province.  In  general,  tha 
towns  retained  their  Macedonian  constitutions  and  politarchs;  and 
they  formed  a  federation  with  a  diet  (Koiv6v).  The  capital  of  the 
province  was  Thessalonica,  and  this  alone  stamped  it  as  Greek. 

Thessaly,  although  placed  under  the  government  of  the  proconsul 
of  Macedonia,  held  a  position  quite  apart  from  the  lands  north  of 
Mount  Olympus.  It  was  a  purely  Greek  district,  and  its  cities 
formed  a  federation  of  their  own,  distinct  from  that  of  Macedonia. 
The  diet  used  to  meet  in  Larisa,  whose  fertile  plain  was  so  famous.* 
Julius  Caesar  had  accorded  the  right  of  free  self-government  to  all 
the  Thessalians,  but,  for  some  act  of  misconduct,  Augustus  with- 
drew the  privilege;  and  the  Thessalians,  with  the  single  exception 
of  Pharsalus,  were  degraded  from  the  position  of  allies  to  that  of 
3ubjects. 

The  Roman  government — whether  republican  or  imperial— 
always  treated  the  venerable  cities  of  Greece  with  a  consideration 
and  tenderness,  which  they  showed  to  no  other  conquered  lands. 
The  reverence  which  was  inspired  in  the  Romans  by  the  city  of 
virgin  Pallas,  by  "  patient  Lacedasmon,"  by  oracular  Delphi,  is 
displayed  not  only  in  their  literature,  but  in  their  government. 
Athens  preserved  a  part  of  her  dominion  as  well  as  her  independence ; 
she  could  still  regard  herself  as  a  sovran  city. 

Thus  Greece  fell  politically  into  two  parts :  federate  Greece  and 
subject  Greece.  (1)  First  of  the  free  federate  states  comes  Athens, 
with  the  whole  of  Attica,  and  various  other  dependencies.  On  the 
mainland,  she  possessed  Haliartos  in  6o3otia  and  the  surrounding 
district ;  but,  as  in  old  days,  most  of  her  dominion  was  insular. 
Among  the  Cyclades,  she  had  Ceos  and  Delos;  in  tbe  northern 
^Egean,  Lemnos,  Imbros  and  Scyros.  The  island  of  Salamis  was 
also  recovered  for  her  in  the  reign  of  Augustus,  by  the  private 
liberality  of  a  rich  man,  Julius  Nicanor,  whom  the  grateful  Athenians 
named  "  the  new  Themistocles."  In  spite  of  her  privileged  position, 
perhaps  in  consequence  of  it,  Athens  often  gave  the  Roman  govern- 
ment trouble ;  a  revolt  in  the  reign  of  Augustus  is  recorded.  Next 
to  Athens,  in  northern  Greece,  come  three  famous  Boeotian  towns, 
Thespiae,  Tanagra,  and  Platsea;  in  Phocis  likewise  three,  Delphi, 
Elatea,  and  Abae  ;  in  Locris,  Amphissa.  In  the  Peloponnesus,  Sparta 
was  permitted  to  retain  her  dominion  over  northern  Laconia,  while 
the  inhabitants  of  the  southern  half  of  that  country  were  formed 
into  eighteen  communities  of  **'  free  Laconians,"  Meuthero-lacones. 
Dyme  in  Achaea  was  also  a  »ree  city,  and  it  is  highly  probable, 
though  not  certain,  that  Elis  and  Olympia  belonged  to  the  free 
*  Larisae  campus  opinue,  Hor.,  Octet,  i.  1. 11. 


27n.o-HA.lx  GREECE.  105 

communities.  The  Roman  government  interfered  as  little  as 
possible  with  the  affairs  of  these  free  states.  Athens  coined  her 
own  drachmae  and  obols,  and  the  head  of  Caesar  never  appeared  on 
her  coins.  But  she  and  her  fellows  knew  that  their  privileges 
might  at  any  moment  be  withdrawn,  as  the  example  of  the 
Thessalians  taught  them. 

Patrae  and  Corinth,  as  Eoman  colonies,  held  a  somewhat  different 
position.  Corinth,  like  Carthage,  rose  again  under  the  auspices  of 
Julius  Caesar,  as  Colonia  Julia  (or  Laus  Julia),  and  rapidly 
recovered  her  prosperity,  thanks  to  her  geographical  position. 
Patrae,  in  Achaea,  was  founded  by  Augustus,  who  settled  there 
a  large  number  of  Italian  veterans  and  granted  to  the  now  town 
dominion  over  the  Locrian  haven  Naupactus,  which  lay  over 
against  it  on  the  opposite  coast. 

(2)  The  rest  of  Greece  (with  the  exception  of  the  less  developed 
districts  in  the  west,  JStolia,  Acarnania,  Epirus)  constituted  the 
province  of  Achaia.  The  residence  of  the  proconsul  was  at  Corinth. 
The  sense  of  national  unity  in  these  subject  states  was  encouraged 
by  Augustus.  He  revived  the  Achaean  league,  in  an  extended 
form,  as  the  league  of  "  Boeotians,  Euboeans,  Locrians,  Phocians,  and 
Dorians,"  or  briefly  the  league  of  the  "  Achasans."  In  later  times  it 
assumed  the  more  pretentious  name  of  the  league  of  the  Panhellenes. 
The  assemblies  of  this  association  used  to  meet  in  Argos,  which  was 
thus  in  some  measure  recompensed  for  her  exclusion  from  the  list  of 
free  communities. 

One  important  and  singular  state  has  still  to  be  mentioned.  On 
the  northern  lip  of  the  mouth  of  the  Ambracian  gulf,  near  the  scene 
of  the  great  battle  in  which  he  won  the  lordship  of  the  Roman 
world,  Augustus  founded  a  new  city.  Nicopolis,  "the  city  of 
victory,"  rose  on  the  very  spot  where  the  main  body  of  his  army  had 
been  encamped.  This  foundation  was  not  to  be  a  Roman  colony ; 
it  was  to  be  a  Greek  city  like  Thessalonica,  and  it  was  founded,  in 
the  same  way,  by  syncecizing  the  small  communities  of  the  neigh- 
bourhood. Nicopolis,  like  Athens  and  Sparta,  was  a  free  and  sovran 
state.  Acarnania,  the  island  of  Leucas,  the  neighbouring  districts 
of  Epirus,  a  part  of  ^Etolia,  were  placed  under  her  control.  On 
the  opposite  promontory,  a  new  temple  of  Apollo  was  built  at 
Actium,  and  quinquennial  games  were  instituted  in  honour  of  that 
god,  on  the  model  of  the  Olympian,  and  actually  called  "  Olympian  " 
as  well  as  "  Actian."  The  cycle  of  four  years  was  an  "  Actiad.." 

Nicopolis  and  its  dependencies  belonged  politically  neither  to 
Macedonia  nor  to  Achaia ;  but  they  were  more  in  touch  with  the 
southern  than  with  the  northern  province.  The  great  bond  of 
union  among  the  European  Greeks,  under  Roman  rule,  was  the 


106  PROVINCIAL  ADMINISTRATION.       CHAP.  vn. 

Delphic  Amphictyony,  and  in  this  assembly,  as  reorganised  by 
Augustus,  Nicopolis  had  a  prominent  place.  The  chief  reform 
introduced  by  that  Emperor  was  the  extension  of  the  institution 
to  Macedonia  and  Nicopolis ;  but  as  many  votes  were  assigned  to 
the  new  city  as  to  the  whole  of  the  Macedonian  province.*  The 
functions  of  the  Amphictyony  were  purely  religious.  It  ordered 
the  sacred  festivals  and  administered  the  large  income  of  the  temple 
of  Delphi.  From  a  political  point  of  view,  it  served  the  same 
purpose  as  the  assembly  of  the  three  Gallic  provinces  which  met  at 
Lyons  round  the  altar  of  Augustus ;  it  helped  to  maintain  a  feeling 
of  unity  and  a  sense  of  common  nationality. 

SECT.  II. — ASIA  MINOR.     KINGDOMS  ON  THE  EUXINE.     ISLANDS. 

§  3.  ASIA  AND  BITHYNIA. — From  the  Greeks  of  the  mother-land 
we  pass  to  the  Greeks  of  Lesser  Asia.  Here  Rome  had  never  to 
struggle  for  dominion  as  in  the  other  parts  of  the  empire  of 
Alexander  the  Great  and  his  successors.  The  provinces  of  "Asia" 
and  Bi thy iiia  dropped,  as  it  were,  into  her  arms.  Asia  was  the 
kingdom  of  the  Attalids  of  Pergamum,  and  was  bequeathed  to  the 
Roman  people  by  Attalus  III. ;  Bithynia  became  Roman  in  the 
same  way  by  the  testament  of  King  Nicomedes.  Both  these 
provinces  were  assigned  to  the  senate  and  governed  by  proconsuls. 
Asia  extended  from  the  shores  of  the  Propontis  to  the  borders  of 
Lycia ;  eastward  it  included  Phrygia,  and  on  the  west  took  in  the 
islands  along  the  coast.  Bithynia  was  no  longer  confined  to  the 
original  kingdom  of  Nicomedes.  It  had  been  increased  on  the  east 
side  by  Pontus,  after  the  overthrow  of  the  empire  of  Mithradates 
by  Pompey;  and  it  stretched  across  the  Bosphorus  into  Europe, 
so  as  to  take  in  Byzantium. 

In  the  kingdom  of  the  Attalids  little  was  left  for  the  Romans  to 
do  in  the  way  of  Hellenisation.  In  the  interior  of  the  country 
there  were  many  Hellenistic  cities,  and  the  growth  of  city-life 
required  no  filtering  from  the  new  mistress.  The  colonies  of 
Parium,  and  Alexandria  in  the  Troas,  founded  by  Augustus,  were 
for  the  purpose  of  settling  veteran  soldiers.  It  was  otherwise  in 
the  kingdom  of  Nicomedes.  Here  Greek  culture  had  not  taken  root 
so  deeply  or  so  widely  ;  Bithynia  was  far  less  developed  than  Asia. 
Here  accordingly  there  was  room  for  Rome  to  *tep  in  and  carry  on 
the  work  of  Hellenisation;  and  she  gladly  undertook  the  task. 
Pontus,  which  was  under  the  governor  of  Bithynia,  was  more 

*  The  entire  number  of  votes  was  30;  i  which  went  round  in  turn  to  Corinth, 
of  these  Nicopolis  ha<i  6,  Athens  1,  Delphi  I  Megara,  Sicyon,  and  Argos. 
2.    The  Peloponnesian  Dorians  had  only  1,  ' 


27  B.O.-14  A.D.          ASIA  AND  BITHYNIA.  107 

backward  still  There  were  no  Greek  centres  there,  like  Prusa  and 
Nicsea  in  Bithynia;  so  that-  the  Hellenisation  of  that  country 
practically  began  under  the  Empire.  The  two  most  important 
towns  on  the  coast  of  Pontus,  were  Sinope,  where  a  Roman  colony 
had  been  planted,  and  Tra^ezus,  which  was  the  station  of  the 
Pontic  fleet. 

In  Asia  Minor,  as  in  other  parts  of  the  Empire,  Augustus 
promoted  the  institution  of  provincial  councils.  The  deputies  of  the 
various  cities  met  yearly  in  a  centre,  and  the  assembly  could  make 
known  to  the  Roman  governor  the  w^hes  of  the  province.  But  this 
institution  took  a  special  shape  and  colour  by  its  association  with 
the  worship  of  the  Emperor.  In  29  B.C.  Caesar  (not  yet  Augustus) 
authorised  the  diets  of  Asia  and  Bithynia  to  build  temples  to  himself 
in  Pergamum  and  Nicomedia.  Hence  the  custom  of  paying  divine 
honours  to  the  Emperor  during  his  lifetime  spread  throughout  the 
provinces ;  in  Italy  and  Home  such  worship  was  not  yielded  10  him 
till  he  was  deified  after  death.  This  worship  involved  the  existence 
of  high  priests,  who  in  the  Asiatic  provinces  became  very  important 
persons,  and  gave  their  name  to  the  year.  Whereas  in  European 
Greece  the  ancient  public  festivals — Olympian,  Pythian,  Isthmian 
and  demean, — still  lived,  and  the  new  Actian  feast  was  celebrated 
in  honour  of  Apollo,  in  Asia  the  public  feasts  were  connected  with 
the  cult  of  the  Emperor.  The  president  of  the  provincial  diet,  the 
Asiarch  in  Asia,  the  Bithyniarch  in  Bithynia,  conducted  the 
celebration  of  these  festivals  and  defrayed  the  costs ;  so  that  those 
offices  could  only  be  held  by  rich  men.  There  was  no  lack  of 
wealthy  folk  in  Asia,  the  province  "of  five  hundred  cities."  It  had 
suffered  a  good  deal  from  piracy  and  from  the  Mithradatic  war; 
and  Augustus,  in  order  to  restore  prosperity,  resorted  to  the 
measure  of  cancelling  old  debts.  Rhodes  was  the  only  state  that 
did  not  take  advantage  of  this  permission.  But  Asia  soon  recovered, 
and  her  bright  cities  enjoyed  under  the  Empire  tranquillity  and 
prosperity.* 

§4.  GALATIA  AND  PAMPHYLIA. — When  the  provinces  were  divided 
in  27  B.C.  between  the  senate  and  the  Emperor,  Asia  Minor  was 
only  in  small  part  provincial.  Besides  Asia  and  Bithynia,  only 
eastern  Cilicia  was  subject  to  a  Roman  governor.  The  rest  of  the 
country  consisted  of  dependent  states,  holding  the  same  relation  to 
Rome  as  Mauretania  in  the  west.  Chief  amomj  these  "vassal" 
states  was  the  kingdom  of  Galati*,  then  ruled  by  Amyntas.  Celtic 
civilisation  held  its  own  for  a  long  time  against  Hellenism  in  this 
miniature  Gaul,  which  was  set  down  in  a  land  of  Hellenistic  states, 
somewhat  like  Massilia,  that  miniature  Greece,  set  down  in  a  land 
*  Horace,  Epittles,  li.  3.  5 :  An  pingues  Asiae  campi  collesque  aaorantur? 


108  PROVINCIAL  ADMINISTRATION.        CHAP,  m 

of  Celtic  cantons.  The  visitor  who  came  from  western  Galatia  (the 
Greek  name  of  Gaul)  to  eastern  Galatia  might  hear  spoken  in  the 
streets  of  Pessinus  and  Ancyra  the  language  with  which  he  was 
familiar  in  the  streets  of  Lugudunum.  Here,  too,  in  the  new  Gaul 
were  the  same  double  n*mes  of  towns  as  in  the  old  Gaul,  the  name 
of  the  place  and  the  name  of  the  tribe.  As  Gallic  Mediolanum  is 
Santones  (Saintes),  as  Lutetia  is  Parisii,  so  Ancyra  is  called  by 
the  name  of  the  Tectosages,  Pessinus  by  that  of  the  Tolistobogii. 
But  in  Asia  the  Celts  did  not  long  maintain  the  purity  of  their 
race;  Gallic  and  Greek  blood  weie  mingled,  and  the  people  were 
called  Gallo-Greeks,  just  as  in  Gaul  there  came  to  be  Gallo-Romans. 
The  princes  of  Galatia  were  ambitious  of  empire  and  were  rivals 
of  Mithradates.  In  the  Mithradatic  war  they  stood  fast  by  Rome. 
King  Deiotarus,  who  had  played  a  prominent  part  then,  died  in 
40  B.C.,  and  his  kingdom  passed  to  one  of  his  officers,  Amyntas,  in 
36  B.C.,  through  the  favour  of  Marcus  Antonius,  who  charged  the 
new  sovran  with  the  subjugation  of  Pisidia.  The  dominion  of 
Amyntas  extended  over  those  mountainous  countries,  south  of 
Galatia,  which  have  always  been  so  hard  to  civilise — Pisidia, 
Lycaonia,  Isauria  and  western  Cilicia.  The  fall  of  his  patron 
Antonius  made  no  difference  in  the  position  of  Amyntas;  Caesar 
allowed  him  to  remain  where  he  was.  But  when  he  died,  in  25  B.C., 
r,  Galatia  was  transformed  into  a  Roman  province,  and  (like  all  new 
provinces  after  27  B.C.)  was  administered  by  an  imperial  governor- 
Pamphylia,  over  which  the  authority  of  Amyntas  stretched,  was 
now  separated  from  Galatia,  and  made  a  distinct  province;  but 
Pisidia  and  Lycaonia  still  went  with  Galatia.  In  the  mountainous 
regions  of  these  districts  the  Hellenistic  kings  had  done  little  for 
civilisation,  and  there  was  a  great  field  for  the  plantation  of  new 
cities.  Antioch,  Seleucia,  Apollonia  in  northern  Pisidia,  Iconium 
and  Laodicea  CatacecaumenS  in  Lycaonia,  were  indeed  something ; 
but  they  were  only  a  beginning.  Augustus  founded  the  Roman 
colonies  of  Lystra  and  Parlais  in  Lycaonia,  and  Cremna  in  Pisidia ; 
and  his  successors  carried  on  the  work.  Many  remains  of  theatres 
and  aqueducts  in  these  lands  tell  of  prosperity  under  the  early 
Empire ;  but  even  at  the  best  times  Mount  Taurus  was  the  home  of 
wild  mountaineers,  always  ready,  under  a  weak  government,  to 
pursue  the  trade  of  brigandage. 

§  5.  THE  DEPENDENT  STATES  IN  ASIA  MINOR  AND  ON  THB 
EUXINE. — The  rest  of  Asia  Minor  did  not  become  provincial  until 
after  the  death  of  Augustus.  During  his  reign  the  Lycian  con- 
federacy, once  subject  to  Rhodes  but  independent  after  the  Third 
Macedonian  War,  was  permitted  to  retain  its  autonomy.  The 
kingdom  of  Cappadocia  was  ruled  by  King  Archelaus.  Polemon 


27  B.G.-14  AD.          GALATIA.      BOSPORUS.  109 

ruled  over  a  Pontic  kingdom,  consisting  of  the  territory  between 
Cerasus  and  Trapezus,  and  also  the  land  of  Colchis.  There  were 
three  distinct  vassal  states  in  Cilicia.  In  Paphlagonia  there  were 
some  small  principalities  held  by  descendants  of  King  Deiotarus, 
but  these  came  to  an  end  in  7  B.C.  and  were  joined  to  Galatia. 
East  of  Galatia,  north  of  Cappadocia,  was  the  kingdom  of  Little 
Armenia,  of  which  more  will  be  said  in  the  next  chapter,  where 
the  position  of  Great  Armenia  will  also  be  described,  a  kingdom 
dependent  by  turns  on  the  Roman  and  the  Parthian  empires. 

One  state,  or  rather  two  states,  which  up  to  very  late  times 
continued  Roman  dependencies,  not  incorporated  in  the  provincial 
system,  still  call  for  notice.  These  are  two  cities  of  the  Tauric 
peninsula ;  Bosporus  or  Panticapseum,  on  the  eastern  promontory- 
at  the  entrance  to  the  Palus  Mseotis,  and  Chersonesus  or  Heraclea 
at  the  opposite,  western  side.*  Bosporus  was  governed  by  kings, 
(the  original  title  was  archon),  who  also  ruled  over  Phanagoria, 
on  the  opposite  mainland,  and  Theudosia,  a  town  on  the  peninsula. 
Chersonesus  was  a  republic.  Both  states  had  been  conquered  by 
Mithradates  and  formed  into  a  Bosporan  realm.  When  he  was 
overthrown,  Bosporus,  after  some  struggles,  came  finally  into  the 
hands  of  Asandros,  who  held  it  until  his  death  (c.  16  B.C.)  and 
left  the  kingdom  to  his  wife  Dynamis.  By  marriage  with  her 
and  the  permission  of  Augustus,  Polemon,  king  of  Pontus,  then 
obtained  the  kingdom,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  children.  But 
the  rapublic  of  the  western  city  was  no  longer  subject  to  its  eastern 
neighbour,  though  it  might  regard  the  Basileus  of  Bosporus  as  a 
protector  in  time  of  need.  These  cities  on  the  distant  border  of 
Scythia  played  an  important  part  in  commerce.  The  Greek  colonies 
on  the  northern  shore  of  the  Euxine,  Tyras  at  the  mouth  of  the 
river  of  like  name,  Olbia  near  the  mouth  of  the  Hypanis,  although 
they  sometimes  received  Roman  protection,  never  took  a  permanent 
place  in  the  Empire ;  lonely  and  remote,  they  were  left  to  hold 
their  own,  as  best  they  could,  in  the  midst  of  barbarous  peoples. 

§  6.  CYPRUS,  CRETE,  AND  OYRENE. — In  the  western  Mediterra- 
nean there  were  two  insular  provinces,  Sicily  and  Sardinia ;  so  like- 
wise in  the  eastern  parts  of  the  same  sea  there  were  two  insular 
provinces,  Cyprus  and  Crete.  Crete,  however,  was  not  an  entire 
province;  it  had  been  joined  by  its  conqueror  Metellus  with  the 
Cyrenaic  pentapolis.  The  joint  province  of  "  Crete  and  Gyrene  " 
was  assigned  to  the  senate.  The  land  of  Cyrene,  remarkable  for 
its  delightful,  invigorating  climate,  was  also  blessed  by  freedom 
from  political  troubles  throughout  its  history  as  a  Roman  province. 

*  Bosporus  and  Chersonesus  (shortened  into  Cherson)  correspond  to  the  modern 
KerUch  and  Sebaatopol, 


110  PROVINCIAL  ADMINISTRATION.       CHAP.  vn. 

Like  Asia  and  Bithynia,  it  had  been  willed  to  the  Roman  republic 
by  Ptolemy  Apion,  its  last  Macedonian  king  (96  B.C.).  Cyprus  was 
fit  first  imperial,  but  in  22  B.C.  Augustus  transferred  it,  along  with 
Gallia  Narbonensis,  to  the  senate.  The  early  history  of  this  island 
had  turned,  like  that  of  Sicily,  on  the  struggle  between  the  Phoeni- 
cians and  the  Greeks.  Under  Roman  rule  it  would  have  enjoyed 
unbroken  tranquillity,  but  for  the  large  population  of  Jews  who 
sometimes  rebelled.  Even  the  peaceful  Cyrenaica  was  at  times 
disturbed  by  the  agitations  of  the  same  race.  Crete,  once  the 
home  of  piracy  was  lucky  enough  to  play  no  part  in  history  as 
long  as  the  Mediterranean  was  a  wholly  Roman  sea. 

SECT.  III. — THE  NEIGHBOURING  DEPENDENT  KINGDOMS  AND  SYRIA. 

§  7.  Of  the  imperial  provinces,  Syria  was  the  most  important  in 
the  east,  as  Gaul  in  the  west.  The  legatus  of  Syria,  on 
whom  it  devolved  to  defend  the  frontier  of  the  Euphrates  against 
the  Parthians,  had  four  legions  under  him,  the  same  number 
that  was  stationed  on  the  Rhine.  But  it  was  not  only  for  frontier 
service  that  the  Syrian  troops  were  needed ;  they  had  also  to 
protect  the  cities  and  the  villnges  against  marauding  bands 
who  infested  the  hills.  Hence  the  legions  were  quartered  in 
the  cities,  and  not,  like  the  Rhine  army,  in  special  military 
stations  on  the  frontier ;  and  this  circumstance  was  the  source  of 
the  demoralisation  and  lack  of  discipline  which  marked  the  Syrian 
army.  But  notwithstanding  the  existence  of  the  hill-robbers, 
Syria  was  a  most  prosperous  province.  In  the  way  of  Hellenisa- 
tion  and  colonisation  the  Seleucid  kings  had  left  nothing  for  the 
Romans  to  do.  Augustus  founded  Berytus  in  order  to  provide  for 
veteran  soldiers,  and  it  remained  an  isolated  Italian  town  in  the 
midst  of  the  Greek  Asiatics, — like  Corinth  in  Greece,  and  Alexandria 
in  the  Troad.  The  Greek  names  of  the  towns  in  Syria  recalled  Mace- 
donia, as  towns  in  Sicily  and  Magna  Grsecia  recalled  old  Greece,  or  as 
names  of  places  in  the  United  States  recall  the  mother-country. 
But  the  older  Aramaic  names  lived  on  side  by  side  with  the  new 
Greek  names,  and  in  some  cases  have  outlived  them,  as,  for  instance, 
Heliopolis,  which  is  called  Baalbec  at  the  present  day.  People,  too, 
had  double  names  as  well  as  places.  Thomns  who  was  called 
Didymus,  and  Tabitha  also  called  Dorcas,  in  the  New  Testament, 
are  familiar  examples.  The  Aramaic  tongue  continued  to  be 
spoken  beside  Greek,  like  Celt'C  beside  Latin  in  Gaul,  especially 
in  the  remoter  districts.  From  the  mixture  of  Greek  and  Syrian 
life,  a  new  mixed  type  of  civilisation  arose,  sometimes  called 
Syrohellenic,  and  characteristically  expressed  in  the  great  mauso- 


27  B.C.-14  A.D.  SYRIA.  Ill 

leum  erected  on  a  hill  near  the  Euphrates  by  Antiochus,  king  of 
Comntagene.  In  his  epitaph,  that  monarch  piays,  that  upon  his 
posterity  may  descend  the  blessings  of  the  gods  both  of  Persis  and 
of  Maketis  (Persia  and  Macedonia). 

In  the  busy  factories  of  the  great  Syrian  cities — Laodicea, 
Apamea,  Tyre,  Berytus,  Byblus — were  carried  on  the  manu- 
factures (linen,  silk,  &c.)  for  which  the  country  was  famous. 
But  Antioch,  the  capital,  was  a  town  of  pleasure  rather  than  of 
work.  It  was  not  well  situated  for  commerce,  like  Alexandria; 
but  it  was  rich  and  magnificent.  Splendidly  supplied  \vith  water, 
brightly  lit  up  at  night,  and  full  of  superb  buildings,  it,  with  its 
suburb,  the  Gardens  of  Daphne,  was  probably  the  pleasantest  town 
in  the  empire  for  the  pleasure-seeker. 

Southern  Syria,  on  its  eastern  side,  bordered  on  the  dependent 
kingdom  of  Nabat,  which  extended  from  Damascus,  encircling 
Palestine  on  the  east  and  south,  and  including  the  northern  portion 
of  the  Arabian  peninsula.  The  regions,  however,  of  Trachonitis, 
between  Damascus  and  Bostra,  which  had  been  committed  to  the 
charge  of  Zenodorus,  prince  of  Abila,  were  subsequently  transferred 
by  Augustus  to  the  king  of  Judea.  because  Zenodorus,  instead  of 
suppressing  the  robbers  who  infested  Trachonitis,  made  common 
cause  with  them.  Damascus  itself,  however,  was  subject  to  the 
Nabatean  kings,  whose  capital  was  the  great  commercial  city  of 
Petra,  the  midway  station  through  which  the  caravans  of  Indian 
merchandise  passed  on  their  road  from  Leuc^  Come*  in  Arabia,  to 
Gaza.  These  kings  were  Arabs,  and  HelLnism  had  only  super- 
ficially touched  their  court.  They  had  officers  named  Eparchoi 
and  Strategoi.  In  the  northern  part  of  their  realm,  Damascus 
was  Greek,  and  the  close  neighbourhood  of  Syria  brought  those 
border  regions  on  the  edge  of  the  desert  into  connection  with 
Greek  civilisation,  The  kings  of  Petra  were  always  at  feud  with 
their  neighbours  the  kings  of  Judea.  Obodas  nearly  lost  his  crown 
for  taking  up  arms  against  Herod,  instead  of  appealing  to  Augustus, 
their  common  lord.  Civilisation  did  not  really  begin  for  this 
Nabatean  kingdom,  until,  more  than  a  century  later,  it  was  at 
length  converted  into  a  Roman  province. 

The  kingdom  of  Judea,  restored  and  bestowed  upon  Antipater 
of  Idumea  by  Julius  Caesar,  had  been  specially  favoured  by  that 
statesman,  being  exempted  from  tribute  and  military  levies.  After 
the  death  of  Antipater  the  kingdom  was  won  by  his  son  Herod, 
after  many  struggles.  At  first  the  unwilling  client  of  Antonius 
and  the  queen  of  Egypt,  he  performed  some  services  in  the  final 
contest  for  Caesar,  who  not  only  confirmed  him  in  his  kingdom,  but 
enlarged  its  borders.  Samaria  was  added  to  Judea,  and  also  the 


112  PROVINCIAL  ADMINISTRATION.       CHAP,  m 

line  of  coast  from  Gaza  as  far  as  the  Tower  of  Straton,  which 
afterwards,  under  Herod's  rule,  was  to  become  the  city  of  Csesarea, 
the  chief  port  of  southern  Syria.  Herod,  throughout  his  long 
reign,  prosecuted  th§  work  of  Hellenism,  by  no  means  acceptable  to 
his  Jewish  subjects,  with  generous  zeal.  His  policy  was  to  keep 
religion  and  the  government  of  the  state  quite  apart,  and  do  away 
altogether  with  the  Jewish  theocracy.  There  was  thus  a  con- 
tinuous rivalry  between  the  king  and  the  high  priest.  The 
Hellenism  of  Herod  was  shown  by  hig  building  a  theatre  at 
Jerusalem,  and  instituting  a  festival,  to  "be  celebrated  at  the  end 
of  every  fourth  year,  in  imitation  of  the  Greek  games.  At  this 
festival,  musical  as  well  as  gymnastic  and  equestrian  contests  were 
held,  and  people  of  every  nation  were  invited.  He  also  imitated 
the  Romans  by  building  an  amphitheatre  hi  the  plain  beneath  the 
city,  and  exhibiting  there  combats  of  wild  beasts  and  condemned 
criminals.  All  this  was  a  gross  violation  of  Jewish  traditions. 
Herod  founded  two  new  cities,  both  of  which  were  named  after 
the  Emperor :  Csesarea,  already  mentioned,  intended  to  be  the 
seaport  of  Jerusalem,  and  Sebaste,  on  the  site  of  Samaria.  These 
cities  were  of  Hellenistic  and  not  Jewish  character. 

The  reign  of  Herod  was  stained  by  horrible  tragedies,  which 
darkened  his  domestic  life.  Before  his  death,  which  occurred 
in  4  B.C.,  his  kingdom  had  been  increased  by  the  land  beyond  the 
Jordan.  The  whole  realm  he  divided  among  his  three  sons. 
Archelaus  was  to  receive  Judea,  with  Samaria  and  Idumea;  to 
Philip  fell  Batanea  and  the  adjacent  regions,  with  the  title  of 
tetrarch ;  while  Galilee  and  the  land  beyond  the  Jordan  were  assigned 
to  Herod  Antipas,  also  as  tetrarch.  But  the  kingdom  was  not 
destined  to  be  of  long  duration.  The  Jews  preferred  to  be  the  direct 
subjects  of  the  Emperor,  to  being  under  the  rule  of  a  king  of  their 
own  ;  and  a  deputation  from  Jerusalem  waited  upon  Augustus  in 
Borne,  to  pray  him  to  abolish  the  kingdom.  The  Emperor  at  first 
compromised.  He  did  not  remove  Archelaus  from  the  government 
of  Ju'lea,  but  he  refused  him  the  royal  title,  and  deprived  him 
of  Samaria.  A  few  years  later,  however,  in  consequence  of  the 
incapacity  of  Archelaus,  the  wishes  of  the  Jews  were  accomplished, 
and  Judea  was  made  a  Boman  province  (6  A.D.)  under  an  imperial 
procurator,  over  whom  doubtless  the  legatus  of  Syria  was  em- 
powered to  exercise  a  certain  supervision,  in  certain  cases,  some- 
what as  the  governor  of  Pannonia  might  intervene  in  Noricum. 
Under  the  procurator,  the  city  communities  were  allowed  to 
manage  their  own  affairs,  as  in  Asia  or  Achaia.  In  Jerusalem,  the 
synhedrion,  an  institution  which  had  been  founded  under  the 
Seleucids,  corresponded  to  the  town  council,  and  the  high  priett, 


27  B.C.-14  A.D.  JUDEA.  113 

appointed  by  the  procurator,  to  the  chief  magistrate.  Everything 
possible  was  done,  under  the  new  system,  to  respect  and  deal 
tenderly  with  the  customs  and  prejudices  of  the  Jews.  Out  of 
consideration  for  their  objection  to  images,  the  coins  did  not  bear 
the  Emperor's  head ;  and  when  Eoman  soldiers  went  to  Jerusalem, 
they  had  to  leave  their  standards  behind  them  in  Caesarea.  The 
difference  of  treatment  which  the  occidental  Jews  experienced  is 
striking.  The  same  Emperors  who  persecuted  Jews  in  the  west, 
scrupulously  respected  their  customs  in  their  own  land.  But  the 
Jews  were  not  content;  they  grumbled  against  the  tribute,  not 
because  it  was  oppressive,  but  on  the  ground  that  it  was  irreligious. 
This  state  of  things  resulted  in  the  great  Jewish  war  of  Vespasian, 
to  which  we  shall  come  hereafter. 

Some  other  small  vassal  states  were  allowed  to  survive  for  a 
considerable  time.  The  kingdom  of  Commagene  in  the  north  was 
not  incorporated  in  the  provincial  system  until  72  A.D.  The  prin- 
cipality of  Chalcis,  north-west  of  Damascus,  survived  still  longer, 
(until  92  A.D.).  Abila,  (between  Chalcis  and  Damascus)  was 
annexed  about  49  A.D.  lamblicus  of  Emesa  had  been  executed 
by  Antonius  shortly  before  the  battle  of  Actium  ;  and  his  territory 
was  at  first  annexed  by  Augustus  to  the  province  of  Syria,  but  in 
20  B.C.  restored  to  a  member  of  the  native  dynasty  of  Sampsi- 
geramus.  It  finally  became  provincial  before  81  A.D.  At  what 
time  the  Syrian  state  of  Palmyra,  called  in  the  Syrian  tongue 
Tadmor,  came  to  be  a  Roman  dependency,  we  cannot  say  for 
certain,  but  probably  in  the  reign  ot  Augustus.  This  flourishing 
city,  situated  in  an  oasis  of  the  desert,  lay  on  the  trade  route 
from  the  Euphrates  to  the  Mediterranean  Sea,  and  was  governed, 
under  Koman  supremacy,  by  its  own  municipal  officers,  until  its 
destruction  by  the  Emperor  Aurelian  in  the  third  century. 

SECT.  IV. — EGYPT. 

§  8.  The  death  of  Cleopatra,  the  last  queen  of  the  royal  house  of 
the  Lagidse,  was  followed  by  the  conversion  of  Egypt  from  the 
condition  of  a  vassal  kingdom  into  a  directly  subject  land.  But 
although  it  is  often  counted  with  the  imperial  provinces,  it  never 
stood  in  line  with  the  other  provinces.*  It  was  subject  to  the 
Emperor  in  his  own  right,  not  merely  as  representative  of  the 
populus  Eomanus.  Augustus  ruled  over  Egypt,  not  as  proconsul, 
but  as  a  successor  of  the  Ptolemies,  a  king  all  but  in  name ;  and 
the  country  always  remained  a  sort  of  imperial  preserve.f  The 

*  See  above,  Chap.  I.  $3,  and  Chap.  VI.  I  to  describe  the  imperial  administration 
$l(f).  of  Egypt. 

f  Tacitus  uses  the  phrase  dorni  retinere  / 


114  PROVINCIAL  ADMINISTRATION.        CHAP.  vn. 

Emperor  was  worshipped  as  a  god  by  the  Egyptian  priests,  accord- 
ing to  the  same  forms  which  had  been  used  in  the  cult  of  the  royal 
Ptolemies.  It  was  a  logical  consequence  of  this  legal  status  of 
Egypt,  as  the  Emperor's  private  domain,  that  it  should  stand  apart 
from  the  imperial  provinces  in  its  administration.  Thus  senators 
were  disqualified  to  fill  the  post  of  governor.  Hence  the  governor 
of  Egypt  did  not  hold  the  rank  of  a  legatus,  but  only  of  a  prsefectus. 
He  was  in  command,  however,  of  three  legions,  and  this  was  the 
only  case  in  which  legions  were  commanded  by  men  of  the  eques- 
trian order.  But  not  only  were  senators  excluded  from  the 
governorship,  they  were  even  forbidden  to  set  foot  in  the  land 
without  permission  of  the  lord  of  the  land.  This  regulation  (which 
extended  also  to  equites  illustres)  was  made  by  Augustus  in  se'f- 
protection.  For  if  a  prominent  senator  wished  to  excite  a  rebellion, 
Egypt,  through  its  immense  resources  and  its  geographical  position, 
would  have  been  a  most  favourable  field  for  such  an  enterprise. 
The  military  importance  had  been  abundantly  proved  in  the  Civil 
Wars.  Whoever  controlled  the  Egyptian  ports  could  stop  the 
corn-supply  on  which  Rome  and  Italy  depended,  and  thus  force 
them  to  capitulate  without  leaving  Alexandria.  And  besides 
Egypt  was  a  country  difficult  to  attack  and  easy  to  defend;  it 
had  the  advantage  of  an  insular  position  without  being  an  island. 
The  jealousy  with  which  the  Emperors  watched  Egypt,  is  illus- 
trated by  the  fate  of  the  first  prefect,  Cornelius  Gallus,  the  poet. 
He  allowed  his  name  and  deeds  to  be  inscribed  on  the  pyramids, 
and  these  indiscretions  were  interpreted  as  treasonable.  Tried  by 
the  senate,  he  was  removed  from  his  command,  and  his  disgrace 
drove  him  to  commit  suicide.  Augustus  is  reported  on  this 
occasion  to  have  complained  that  he  was  the  only  citizen  who 
could  not  show  anger  against  a  friend  without  making  him  an 
enemy.  Besides  the  prefect  tfcere  was  a  iuridicus  to  administer 
justice,  and  an  officer  called  idiologus  to  manage  the  finances. 

In  organisation  also  Egypt  differed  from  the  other  provinces. 
The  system  of  the  Ptolemies  was  continued.  No  municipal  self- 
government  was  granted ;  city  life  was  not  encouraged,  as  in  the 
rest  of  the  empire.  The  country  was  divided  into  districts  (nomes} 
which  were  placed  under  officers  appointed  by  the  government. 
No  diet  was  instituted  to  represent  the  political  views  of  the  people. 
Under  the  Ptolemies,  the  native  Egyptians  had  formed  an  inferior 
class,  possessing  no  political  privileges,  and  under  the  Romans  their 
condition  remained  the  same. 

Upper  Egypt  extended  to  Elephantine  on  the  Nile,  and  to 
Troglodytic  Berenice  on  the  coast  (in  the  same  line  of  latitude). 
This  Berenice  must  be  distinguished  from  Golden  Berenice,  far  away 


27  B.C.-H  A.D.  EGYPT.  115 

to  the  south,  opposite  Aden,  which,  like  Zula  and  Ptolemais 
Tbdrdn,  were  not  included  in  the  Roman  empire. 

The  fertility  of  the  land  of  the  Nile  was  proverbial,  and  it  brought 
in  an  enormous  revenue  to  the  imperial  purse.  Augustus  did  not 
reduce  the  heavy  taxes  which  had  been  levied  by  his  Greek 
predecessors,  but  by  judicious  improvements,  among  which  must  be 
especially  mentioned  the  re-opening  and  clearing  of  the  Nile 
canals,  he  enabled  the  country  to  bear  them,  and  Egypt  soon 
recovered  from  the  financial  distress  in  which  the  rule  of  Cleopatra 
had  plunged  it.  The  chief  product  was  grain,  with  which  it 
supplied  Home.  In  the  production  of  linen  Egypt  rivalled 
Syria ;  in  glass  manufactures  it  stood  first ;  and  it  supplied  the 
world  with  papyrus.  Excellently  situated  for  traffic,  Alexandria 
might  claim  to  be  the  second  city  in  the  Empire  ;  as  a  centre 
of  commerce,  she  then  stood  at  the  head  of  all  cities  in  the  world. 
The  traffic  of  the  East  and  the  West  met  in  her  streets  and  on 
her  quays;  Greek  philosophies  and  oriental  religions  mingled 
in  her  schools.  The  buildings  were  magnificent,  above  all,  the 
Temple  of  Serapis,  the  Museum,  and  the  Royal  Palace.  There  were 
attrac'ions  for  the  scholar,  as  well  as  for  the  merchant,  and  the 
sight-seer ;  the  Greek  library  was  the  richest,  and  the  Greek 
professors  of  the  Museums  the  most  learned,  in  the  Empire.  Every- 
thing, a  Greek  writer  says,*  was  to  be  had  in  E-ypt,  wealth,  quiet, 
sights,  philosophers,  gold,  a  Museum,  wine,  all  one  may  desire  ! 
There  was  a  very  large  Jewish  population  in  Alexandria,  composing 
a  distinct  community,  with  its  own  chief  (entitled  the  ethnarc/i)  ; 
and  the  city  was  too  often  the  scene  of  riots  and  tumults,  as  was 
wont  to  be  the  c»se  where  there  were  large  colonies  of  Jews. 

The  capture  of  Alexandria  by  Csesar  was  commemorated  by  the 
bmldin'j;  of  a  suburb  called  Nicopolis,  which  served  as  a  sort  of 
fortress  to  command  the  city,  as  a  legion  was  stationed  there.  The 
temple  of  Antonius,  incomplete  when  the  city  was  taken,  was 
finished  and  dedicated  to  Cassar.  At  a  later  period  Augustus  set  up  an 
obelisk  in  Alexandria,  which  survives  to  the  present  day,  although 
no  longer  in  its  old  station,  f  under  the  name  of  Cleopatra's  needle. 

Egypt  had  been  accustomed  to  reckon  time  by  the  regnal  year  of 
the  Ptolemies,  and  the  same  svstem  was  continued  under  its  new 
sovran.  The  era  of  the  first  Roman  ruler  was  counted,  not  from 
the  day  of  his  victory,  August  1  (30  B.C.),  but  from  August  29, 
corresponding  to  the  first  day  of  the  month  Thoth,  which  the 

*  In  one  of  the  lately  discovered  mimes  I  Roman  Alexandria. 

of  Herodas   (i.   27,   sqq).     Thoi  gh  this  I      f  It  was  removed  to  New  York  some 

writer  probably  lived  in  the  3rd  century  I  years  ago. 

B.C.,  his  description    applies  equally  to  | 


PROVINCIAL   ADMINISTRATION.        CHAP.  vn. 


reckoned  as  the  first  day  of  the  new  year.     Cleopatra 
L  dining  the  greater  part  of  August,  and  this  circumstance  may 
3^0  determined  the  choice  of  the  beginning  of  the  new  era. 

UBT  OF  PROVINCES  AT  THE  DEATH  OF  AUGUSTUS. 


1.    &nator£a*t 

a.  Governed  by  consular  proconsuls. 


5.  Governed  by  praetorian  proconsuls. 

Sicily. 

Baetica. 

Karbonensis. 

Macedonia. 

Achaia. 

Bithynia  and  Pontus. 

Cyprus. 

Crete  and  Cyrene. 
2.    Imperial 

a.  Governed  by  legati  Augusti  pro- 

praetore. 
(1)  Governed  by  consular  legati. 

Tarraconensis. 

Pannonia. 

Palmatia. 

Jlcesia. 

Syria. 


(2)  Governed  by  praetorian  legati. 

Lusitania. 

Aquitania.* 

Lugudunensis.* 

Belgica.* 

Galatia. 

&.  Governed   by  prefects   or   procu- 
rators. 

Egypt  (pref.). 

Sardinia  and  Corsica. 

Retia  (pref.) 

Noricum. 

Alpes,Maritim£e  (pref. 

Alpcc  Cottiae  (pref. 

Judca  (procur.) 

*  The  legati  of  these  provinces  were  at 
the  time  of  the  death  of  Augustus  under 
the  control  of  Germanicus,  the  commander 
of  the  Germanic  armies. 


'i'ropuies  ot  Augubtuo. 


Coins  commemorating  the  recovery  ot  the  standards  from  the  Parthiane. 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

ROME   AND  PARTHIA.      EXPEDITIONS   TO   ARABIA   AND   ETHIOPIA. 

§  1.  Relations  of  Rome  and  Parthia  in  the  last  years  of  the  Republic. 
Antonius  in  the  East.  The  Armenian  question.  §  2.  Policy  of 
Augustus.  Recovery  of  the  standards  of  Crassus.  Recovery  of 
Armenia.  Gaius  Caesar  in  the  East.  His  death.  §  3.  Arabia  Felix. 
Expedition  of  JSlius  Gallus,  which  proves  a  failure.  §  4.  Expedition 
against  Candace,  queen  of  the  Ethiopians. 

§  1.  THE  Arsacid  dynasty,  which,  after  the  fall  of  the  Greek 
Seleucids,  ruled  over  the  Iranian  lands  from  the  Euphrates  to  the 
borders  of  India,  derived  their  origin  from  Parthia,  a  land  situated 
between  Media  and  Bactria,  south-east  of  the  Caspian  Sea.  Their 
empire  is  called  Parthia,  in  contrast  to  the  earlier  Persian  empire  of 
the  Achsemenids,  and  the  later  Persian  empire  of  the  Sassanids.  But 
it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  these  kings  were  of  Iranian  race,  speak- 
ing an  Iranian  language,  maintaining  the  religion  of  Zoroaster,  and 
that  the  whole  character  of  their  court  was  Persian.  Thus  it  is  quite 
true  to  say  that  the  Romans  in  their  Parthian  wars  not  only 
maintained  the  same  cause  but  fought  against  the  same  ito  C3 
Themistocles  when  he  repulsed  Xerxes,  and  as  Alexander  ^JjEJ  fa@ 
overthrew  Darin  a.  The  Parthian  kingdom  was  composed  e£  C- 


118  ROME   AND   PARTHTA.  CHAP.  vm. 

number  of  subordinate  kingdoms  or  satrapies.  The  Greek  cities  in 
Mesopotamia  formed  an  exception,  to  which  we  must  add  the 
flourishing  mercantile  city  of  Seleucia,  which  had  taken  the  place 
of  ancient  Babylon.  In  this  respect,  the  Parthian  and  Roman 
states  have  been  sometimes  contrasted.  In  the  Parthian  realm 
dependent  kingdoms  were  the  rule,  city  communities  the  exception  ; 
in  the  Roman  Empire  cities  were  the  rule,  dependent  kingdoms 
the  exception. 

Before  the  overthrow  of  their  rival  Mithradates,  the  Parthian 
kings  regarded  Rome  as  a  friendly  power.  But  after  the  victories 
of  Pompeius,  when  the  common  enemy  had  fallen,  Rome  and 
Parthia  stood  face  to  face  and  became  rivals  themselves.  Syria 
then  became  a  Roman  province,  and  the  Euphrates  was  fixed 
by  treaty  as  the  boundary  between  the  great  European  and  the 
great  Asiatic  power.  But  there  were  many  causes  for  discord. 
Armenia,  like  Cappadocia,  became  a  Roman  dependency  ;  and  this 
circumstance  could  not  fail  to  lead  to  war.  That  country,  very 
important  to  both  states  from  a  military  point  of  view,  was 
destined  to  be  tossed  continually  backwards  and  forwards  between 
Parthia  and  Rome.  In  language,  society,  and  nationality,  Armenia 
was  far  nearer  to  the  eastern  than  to  the  western  power ;  an  d  the 
political  bonds  which  unittd  it  to  Rome  were  always  somewhat 
artificial.  Another  source  of  discord  lay  in  Atropatene,  the  land 
south  of  Armenia  ;  for  the  vassal  king  of  that  country,  desiring  to 
free  himself  from  Parthian  supremacy,  often  sought  to  become  the 
vassal  of  Rome.  The  actual  violation  of  the  treaty  came  from  the 
Romans,  who  assumed  overlordship  over  the  Mesopotamian  city  of 
Edessa,  and  attempted  to  extend  the  borders  of  the  d<  pendent  king- 
dom of  Armenia  into  Parthian  territory.  How  Parthia  declared 
war  against  Armenia,  how  th?s  led  to  the  fatal  expedition  of  Crassus 
and  the  field  of  Carrhse,  how  in  consequence  of  that  defeat,  Armenia 
fell  into  the  power  of  the  Parthians,  need  not  be  repeated  here. 

Elated  by  their  success,  the  Parthians  began  to  demand  the  cession 
of  Syria ;  while  on  the  side  ot  Rome  it  was  regarded  as  a  matter  of 
honour  to  revenge  the  defeat  at  Carrhae  and  recover  the  standards  of 
Crassus.  The  Civil  Wars  prevented  the  accomplishment  of  such 
designs.  One  great  defeat,  indeed,  the  enemy  experienced  when  they 
invaded  Syria  in  38  B.C.,  at  the  hands  of  Ventidins  Bassus ;  Pacorus, 
the  son  ot  the  great  king,  fell  on  the  field  of  Gindaros.  Marcus 
Antonius  at  length  seriously  faced  the  Parthian  question,  in  con- 
nection with  his  own  ambitious  design  of  founding  a  great  Eastern 
empire,  composed  of  dependent  kingdoms.  It  will  be  remembered 
how  his  expedition  came  to  nought.  At  that  time,  the  king  of  Parthia 
was  Phraates,  who  was  highly  unpopular  with  his  subjects,  and 


38-3J  B.C.  THE   ARMENIAN    QUESTION.  119 

Antonius  supported  the  pretender  Moneeses.  The  king  of  Armenia 
was  Artavasdes,  and  he,  wishing  to  increase  his  dominion  by  the 
addition  of  Atropatene,  ardently  supported  Ant'>nius.  Another 
Artavasdes  was  king  of  Atropatene.  Antonius  blamed  the  Armenian 
king  for  his  failure,  repaired  to  Armenia  in  34  B.C.,  seized  him  and 
carried  him  to  Egypt,  where  he  was  put  to  death  by  Cleopatra. 
His  son  Artaxes  fled  to  the  Parthians.  At  the  same  time 
Antonius  became  reconciled  with  Artavasdes  of  Atropateue, 
obtained  his  daughter  in  marriage  for  a  son  of  his  own,  whom  he 
set  up  as  king  of  Armenia.  Hut  at  this  moment  Antonius  was 
called  upon  to  deal  with  Caesar ;  and  Phraates,  seizing  the  oppor- 
tunity,  deposed  the  two  kings,  and  combined  both  Armenia  and 
Atropatene  under  the  rule  of  Artaxes,  son  of  the  Armenian 
Artavasdes.  Fortunately  for  Roman  interests,  intestine  struggles 
broke  out  in  Persia,*  simultaneously  with  the  final  contest  between 
the  two  Roman  triumvirs.  Phraates  was  deposed,  and  Tiridates 
was  set  up  in  his  stead. 

§  2.  Augustus  has  been  blamed  for  not  dealing  resolutely  with 
the  Eastern  question  immediately  after  his  victory  over  his  rival. 
It  has  been  said  that  he  should  have  at  once  taken  steps  to  plant 
his  power  in  Armenia,  and  make  that  country  securely  and 
permanently  Roman,  at  the  same  time  establishing  a  recognised 
authority  over  the  Colchiaus,  the  Iberians,  and  the  Albanians,  who 
inhabited  the  regions  between  Armenia  and  the  Caucasus,  the 
Euxine  and  the  Caspian.  It  seemed  incumbent  on  him,  too,  to 
recover  the  standards  captured  at  Carrhse ;  and  at  the  same  time 
two  exiles  were  imploring  his  help,  Tiridates,  who  had  been  over- 
thrown soon  after  his  elevation,f  and  Artavasdes,  king  of  Atro- 
patene. The  desire  which  the  Romans  felt  at  this  time  to  see  the 
Parthians  humbled  is  reflected  in  the  earlier  writings  of  Horace. 
Augustus  is  called  juvenis  Parthis  horrendus,%  and  "will  be 
regarded  as  a  true  god  upon  earth  if  he  adds  the  Britons  and  the 
dangerous  Persians  to  the  etnpire."§  Men  clearly  looked  forward 
to  a  Parthian  war.  But  Augustus,  after  the  conquest  of  Egypt, 
postponed  the  settlement  of  the  Eastern  question.  Perhaps  he  was 
influenced  by  the  ill-success  of  Antonius  ;  and  his  army,  doubtless, 
eager  for  rewards  and  rest,  would  have  been  little  disposed  to 
undertake  an  arduous  campaign  in  Armenia.  And  above  all 
Augustus  himself  was  not  a  general.  Observing  the  domestic 


*  Horace,  Odes,  iii.  8.  19:  Medus  in- 
festus  sibi  luctuosis  dissidet  armis. 

f  Horace,  Od~.f,  il.  2.  17 :  Redditum 
Cyrl  solio  Pbraaten. 

I  Satires,  ii.  5.  62. 


Odes,  iii.  5.  4  : 
Praesens  divus  habebitur 
Ang  stus  adiectis  Britannia 
Imperio  gravibusque  Persia. 


120 


ROME   AND   PARTHIA 


CHAP,  vm 


discords  in  Parthia,  he  hoped  to  settle  the  eastern  frontier 
advantageously  for  Rome  by  diplomacy,  and  not  by  arms.  He 
consoled  Artavasdes  with  the  kingdom  of  Lesser  Armenia  and  gave 
refuge  in  Syria  to  Tiridates.  In  23  B.C.  an  opportunity  came  for 
recovering  the  standards  and  captives  which  had  been  taken  at 
Carrhae.  Phraates  sent  an  embassy  demanding  that  Tiridates 
should  be  given  up  to  him,  and  also  an  infant  son  of  his  own  whom 
Tiridates  had  carried  off.  The  child  was  sent  back,  but  it  was 
stipulated  that  in  return  the  captives  and  the  standards  should  be 
restored.  It  was  in  connection  with  this  affair  that  Agrippa  was 
sent  to  the  East  with  proconsular  imperium.  Phraates  did  not 
fulfil  the  conditions  immediately,  but  in  20  B.C.  Augustus  appeared 
in  the  East  himself,  and  the  Parthian  king  yielded.  The  Emperor 
was  proud  of  his  success,  which  in  his  account  of  his  ov\  n  deeds 
he  records  thus  :  "  I  compelled  the  Parthians  to  restore  to  me  the 
standards  and  spoils  of  three  Roman  armies,  and  suppliantly  to  beg 
the  friendship  of  the  Roman  people.  Those  standards  I  deposited 
in  the  temple  of  Mars  Ultor."  Poets  celebrated  the  event  as  if 
it  ranked  with  the  most  brilliant  achievements  of  Roman  arms. 
Virgil  sings  of  "following  Aurora,  and  claiming  the  standards 
from  the  Parthians,"  and  imagines  the  Euphrates  as  flowing  with 
less  haughty  stream  * ;  and  the  ensigns  so  peacefully  recovered 
are  described  by  Horace  as  "  torn  from  "  the  enemy.f 

In  the  same  year  a  more  solid  success  was  obtained,  the  recovery 
of  Armenia.  A  conspiracy  had  been  formed  there  against  the  king 
Artaxes,  and  a  message  was  sent  to  the  Emperor,  requesting  that 
Tigranes  (the  younger  brother  of  Artaxes),  who  was  educated  at 
Rome,  should  be  sent  to  reign  in  his  stead.  Tiberius,  the  Emperor's 
stepson,  was  entrusted  with  the  task  of  deposing  Artaxes  and 
installing  Tigranes.  Artaxes  was  murdered  by  the  party  which 
had  conspired  against  him;  and  Tigranes  was  established  in  the 
kingdom,  which  thus  became  once  more  a  dependency  of  Rome. 
Atropatene,  however,  was  separated,  and  given  to  Ariobarzanes, 
son  of  its  former  king  Artavasdes,  but  it  seems  to  have  remained 
under  Parthian  supremacy.  Ariobarzanes,  like  Tigranes,  had  been 
educated  at  Rome. 

New  troubles,  however,  soon  arose  in  Armenia.  Tigranes  died, 
and  the  kingdom  was  agitated  by  struggles  between  the  friends  of 
Parthia  and  the  friends  of  Rome.  Augustus  again  entrusted  to  his 
stepson  the  office  of  restoring  order  in  Armenia ;  but  Tiberius,  from 
motives  of  private  resentment,  declined  the  commission  (6  B.C.). 


*  JFncid,  vii.  606 :  Auroramque  sequi 
Parthosque  reposcere  signa.  viii.  726: 
Euphrates  ibat  iam  mollior  undis. 


f  Odes,  IT.  16.  7 :  Derepta  Partbomm 
superbis  postibus. 


23  B.C.-4  A.D.          ARABIAN  EXPEDITION.  121 

Nothing  was  done  during  the  next  four  years :  but  then  it  was 
decided  that  the  ordering  of  the  East  should  be  entrusted  to  the 
young  grandson  of  the  Emperor,  Gaius  Caesar,  and  should  form  a 
brilliant  beginning  to  the  career  of  the  destined  Imperator.  The 
young  prince  started  with  high  hopes,  dreaming -perhaps  of  oriental 
conquests  and  of  rivalling  the  fame  of  Alexander.  His  enthusiasm 
seems  to  have  been  encouraged  by,  perhaps  to  have  affected,  his  elders. 
A  courtly  poet  cried,  "  Now,  far  East,  thou  shalt  be  ours  "  *  ;  and 
Juba,  the  literary  king  of  Mauretania,  wrote  an  account  of  Arabia, 
for  the  special  benefit  of  Gaius,  whose  vision  was  chiefly  fixed  on 
the  conquest  of  that  unconquerable  land.  The  settlement  of  the 
Armenian  question  was,  in  the  first  instance,  easily  and  peacefully 
accomplished.  Gaius  and  Phraataces,  the  son  of  Phraates,  met  on 
an  island  in  the  middle  of  the  Euphrates,  and  the  Parthian  agreed 
to  resign  his  claim  to  Armenia.  But  it  was  still  necessary  to 
enforce  submission  to  this  decision  in  Armenia  itself :  and  accordingly 
Gaius  proceeded  thither  to  instal  Ariobarzanes,  son  of  Artavasdes. 
Before  the  walls  of  the  fortress  of  Artagira  he  was  wounded  by 
treachery,  and  some  months  later  he  died  of  the  effects  of  the  hurt 
at  Liruyra  in  Lycia  (4  A.D.).  During  the  rest  of  the  reign  of 
Augustus,  no  serious  measures  were  adopted  in  regard  to  Armenia, 
and  that  state  was  rent  by  the  contentions  between  the  Parthian 
and  the  Roman  parties. 

§  3.  The  unfortunate  death  of  the  young  Csesar  put  an  end  to 
the  design  of  conquering  Arabia.  That  enterprise  had  been 
seriously  entertained  by  the  Roman  government,  and  actually 
attempted  at  an  earlier  date.  The  possession  of  southern  Arabia 
would  have  been  an  important  advantage,  not  like  that  of  Armenia  or 
Mcesia  for  military  purposes,  but  from  a  purely  mercantile  point  of 
view.  The  chief  route  of  trade  from  India  to  Europe  was  by  the  Red 
Sea — Adane  (Aden)  was  then,  as  now,  an  important  port — and  the 
Arabians,  with  their  born  genius  for  commerce,  had  it  in  their 
hands.  The  Indian  wares  were  disembarked  either  at  Leuce  Come, 
on  the  west  coast  of  Arabia,  and  thence  transported  overland  to 
Petra  and  on  to  some  Syrian  port,  or  at  Myos  Hormos,  on  the 
opposite  Egyptian  coast,  whence  they  were  carried  by  camels  to 
Coptos  (near  Thebes)  and  shipped  for  Alexandria.  Once  in  posses- 
sion of  Egypt,  the  Roman  government  could  not  fail  to  see  that  it 
would  be  highly  profitable  to  command  the  Red  Sea  route  entirely, 
and  get  the  trade  into  the  hands  of  their  own  subjects.  Not  long 
after  the  establishment  of  his  power,  Augustus  took  up  the 
question,  and  here  for  once,  he  was  aggressive.  He  planned  an 
expedition,  of  which  the  object  was  to  reduce  under  Roman  sway 

*  Ntinc,  oriens  ultime,  noster  eris :  Ovid,  Ars  Am.,  i.  178. 
6 


122 


HOME   ANU   PAKTHiA. 


CHAP.  viii. 


the  land  of  Yemen,  the  south-western  portion  of  the  Arabian 
peninsula.  That  land  was  known  to  the  Romans  as  Arabia  Felix, 
and  its  people — the  Himyarites — as  the  Sabsei.  It  was  a  rich 
country,  which  in  itself  invited  conquest,  though,  in  consequence 
of  the  remote  situation,  the  luxurious  mhabitan-s  had  never  been 
subdued,  as  Horace  tells  us,  by  a  foreign  master.*  They  suppled 
the  Empire  with  spices  and  perfumes,  cassia,  aloes,  myrrh,  (ran kin- 
cense,  while  in  return  they  received  the  precious  metals,  which 
thev  kept  in  their  land.  The  expedition  started  towards  the  end 
of  25  R.C.,  and  was  entrusted  to  the  care  of  JElius  Gallus,  an  officer 
holding  a  high  post  in  Egypt.f  Ten  thousand  men,  half  the 
number  of  troops  in  Egypt,  were  placed  under  his  command,  in 
addition  to  auxiliaries  supplied  by  the  kings  of  Nabatea  and  Judea. 
The  Nabateans  had  constant  intercourse  with  Arabia  Felix,  and 
Syllseus,  a  minister  of  the  Nabatean  king  Obodas,  undertook  to 
play  the  part  of  guide.  The  whole  expedition  was  miserably 
mismanaged ;  it  is  hard  to  say  how  far  Gallus  was  to  blame  and 
how  far  his  guide  may  have  acted  in  bad  faith.  His  Iriend  the 
geographer  Strabo,  from  whom  we  learn  the  details  of  the  enter- 
prise, shifts  the  blame  on  Syllseus;  and  it  is  quite  conceivable,  that 
the  Nabateans  may  have  secretly  wished  the  expedition  to  'ail, 
thinking  that  its  success  might  divert  the  traffic  that  had  hitherto 
passed  through  their  country. 

The  army  embarked  at  Arsinoe  (on  the  Isthmus  of  Suez)  in  a 
fleet  of  war- vessels.  Such  vessels  were  quite  needless,  as  there  was 
no  question  of  hostilities  by  sea.  They  disembarked  at  Lence* 
C6m6,  which  was  perhaps  at  this  time  subject  to  Rome,  and  passed 
the  winter  there.  In  spring  they  marched  southwards  by  circuitous 
and  laborious  routes,  and  at  length  reached  the  capital  of  the 
Sabaeans.  But  the  army,  though  the  natives  gave  little  trouble, 
had  suffered  severely  from  dis  ase  and  hunger,  and  \\hen  at  last 
they  came  to  the  residence  of  the  iSabaean  kings,  Mariba,  on  its 
woody  hill,  both  the  general  and  the  men  were  too  exhausted  and 
despondent  to  set  to  the  task  of  besieging  it.  Having  spent  six  days 
there,  Gullus  abandoned  the  undertaking,  and  the  expedition  returned 
home,  but  with  more  speed  than  it  had  pone  thither.  Something 
had  been  accomplished  in  the  way  of  exploring  the  country,  but  the 
Sabseiwere  still,  as  before,  unconqnered.  Augustus,  however,  did  not 
choose  to  consider  the  expedition  a  failure.  He  speaks  of  it 
complacently  among  his  achievements,  and  he  promoted 
Gallus  to  the  prefecture  of  Egypt. 


*  Odet,  1.  29.  3:    Non  ante  devices 
Sabffise  regibns. 
f    Mommsen   thinks   he   was   prefect 


already;  but  the  ev'rtence  seems  rather 
to  favour  th  v  ew  that  he  was  made  pre- 
fect after  his  expedition. 


24-22  B.C.  ETHIOPIAN   EXPEDITION.  123 

§  4.  While  half  of  the  Egyptian  army  was  absent  on  the  Arabian 
enterprise,  the  other  half  was  called  upon  to  defend  the  southern 
frontier  against  the  aggressions  of  a  neighbouring  power.  Upper 
Egypt  extended  as  far  as  Elephantine  on  the  Nile,  and  beyond  that 
limit  lay  the  land  of  the  Ethiopians,  at  this  time  ruled  by  the  one- 
eyed  queen  Can- lace.  She  had  invaded  and  ]  hindered  the  extreme 
parts  of  Upper  Egvpt — Syene  and  Elephantine;  and  after  fruitless 
demands  ior  satisfaction,  C.  Petronius  the  pi  elect  was  obliged  to 
take  the  field  (24  B.C.),  at  the  head  of  10,000  footmen  and  800  horse. 
He  routed  the  enemy,  took  the  town  of  Pselchis  on  the  Nile,  and 
advanced  as  far  as  Nai  afa,  where  was  the  queen's  palace,  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  the  Ethiopian  capital  Meroe.  He  razed  Napata 
to  the  ground.  He  did  not  attempt  to  occupy  all  this  country,  but 
made  a  strong  place,  named  Premnis(or  Pivmis),  his  advanced  post. 
In  ihe  following  year  Premnis  was  attacked  by  the  Ethiopians,  and 
Pe'ronius  had  to  return  again  to  relieve  it.  He  inflict* d  another 
deleat  on  the  <oe  (22  B.C.),  and  Candace  was  compelled  to  sue 
f<  r  p<ace.  Her  ambassadors  were  sent  to  Augustus,  who  was 
then  at  Samos,  and  petce  was  granted,  the  prefect  being  directed 
to  evacuate  the  territory  which  he  had  occupied.  Augustus  drew 
the  line  of  Iron  tier  at  Syene. 


Augustus  and  At tavasdes. 


The  (BO-calied)  Arch  of  Drusus,  on  the  Appian  Way. 

CHAPTER  IX. 

THE   WINNING   AND   LOSING   OF   GERMANY.       DEATH  OF   AUGUSTUS. 

§  1.  Project  of  the  conquest  of  Germany.  §  2.  Political  and  social  life 
of  the  Germans,  as  known  from  Csesar's  Commentaries.  §  3.  Dis- 
turbances in  Gaul  and  on  the  Rhine.  §  4.  Appointment  of  Drusus. 
His  first  campaigns  (12  B.C.).  §  5.  Campaigns  against  the  Cherusci 
(11  BC.)  and  the  Chatti  (10  B.C.).  Defence  of  the  Rhine.  §  6. 
Drusus  advances  to  the  Albis  (9  B.C.).  His  death.  §  7.  Tiberius  in 
Germany  (9-6  B.C.,  and  4-5  A.D.).  §  8.  Expedition  against  Maro- 
boduus.  §  9.  Rebellion  of  Pannonia  and  Dalmatia,  suppressed  by 
Tiberius.  §  10.  Revolt  of  Germany.  Defeat  of  Varus.  §  11. 
Tiberius  returns  to  the  Rhine.  §  12.  Effect  of  the  various  dis- 
asters on  Augustus.  His  last  days  and  death  (14  A.D.).  §  13.  Estimate 
of  Augustus.  §  14.  Monumentum  Ancyranum  and  Breviarium  Jmperii. 

SECT.  I. — THE  CONQUEST  OF  GERMANY. 

§  1.  THE  subject  of  the  present  chapter  is  the  story  of  the 
Roman  Germany  that  might  have  been.  Csesar's  conquest  of 
Gaul  pointed  beyond  the  limits  of  that  country  to  further 
conquests;  it  pointed  beyond  the  sea,  to  the  island  of  the  north, 
and  eastward  beyond  the  Rhine,  to  the  forests  of  central  Europe. 


55  B.C.-14  A.D.    CESAR'S  ACCOUNT  OF  GERMANY.       125 


had  shown  the  way  to  the  conquest  of  Britain,  he  had 
likewise  crossed  the  Rhine.  As  far  as  Britain  was  concerned, 
Augustus  did  not  follow  out  the  suggestions  of  his  "  father " ; 
that  enterprise  was  reserved  for  one  of  his  successors.  But  in 
regard  to  Germany  he  was  persuaded  to  act  otherwise.  The  advance 
of  the  Roman  frontier  from  the  Rhine  to  the  Albis  (Elbe),  and  the 
subjugation  of  the  intervening  peoples,  must  have  seemed  from  a 
military  point  of  view  good  policy.  The  line  of  frontier  to  be 
defended  would  thus  be  lessened.  The  defence  of  the  Upper 
Danube,  from  Vindonissa  on  the  Rhine  to  Lauriacum  would  not  be 
needed,  and  the  Albis  would  take  the  place  of  the  Rhine,  This 
project  of  extending  the  Empire  to  the  Albis,  into  which  perhaps 
the  cautious  Emperor  was  persuaded  by  the  ardour  of  his  favourite 
stepson  Drusus,  was  well  begun  and  seemingly  certain  of  success, 
when  it  was  cut  short  by  an  untoward  accident,  if  there  was  not 
some  deeper  cause  in  the  hidden  counsels  of  the  Roman  govern- 
ment. But  the  winning  and  losing  of  Germany  is  a  most  interest- 
ing episode,  giving  us  our  earliest  glimpse  of  the  rivers  and  forests 
of  central  Europe. 

§  2.  Caesar  in  his  Commentaries  has  given  a  brief  sketch  of  the 
political  and  social  life  of  the  Germans  in  general,  and  of  the 
Suevians  in  particular.  This  sketch,  though  somewhat  vague  and 
doubtless  derived  chiefly  from  the  information  of  Gauis,  is  valuable 
as  the  earliest  picture  of  the  life  of  our  forefathers,  and  one  written 
by  a  great  statesman.  He  describes  them  as  a  hardy,  laborious  and 
temperate  people,  diriding  their  life  between  hunting  and  warlike 
exercises.  They  practise  agriculture  but  little,  and  subsist  chiefly 
on  flesh,  milk,  and  cheese.  No  one  possesses  a  permanent  lot  of 
landj  but  the  chiefs  assign  a  certain  portion  of  land  every  year, 
and  for  only  one  year's  occupancy,  to  the  several  communities  which 
form  c,  civi'cas.  At  the  end  of  each  year  the  allotments  arc  given 
up,  and  each  community  moves  elsewhere.  For  this  custom 
several  reasons  were  given,  of  which  the  most  important  were  that 
the  people  might  not  by  permanent  settlement  become  agricultural 
and  give  up  warfare ;  that  the  more  powerful  might  not  drive  the 
weaker  from  their  possessions  ;  and  that  the  mass  of  the  people  might 
be  contented.  The  territory  of  each  tribe  is  isolated  from  those  of  its 
neighbours  by  a  surrounding  strip  of  devastated  unpeopled  land. 
This  is  c,  safeguard  against  suddon  attack.  In  timo  of  war  special 
commanders  arc  chosen ;  but  in  time  of  peace,  there  is  no  central  or 
supreme  magistracy  in  tho  state,  but  the  chiefs  of  the  various 
districts  (pcw/a)  or  tribal  subdivisions,  administer  justice.  The 
Sucvi  had  a  hundred  pagi,  of  which  each  furnished  a  thousand  men 
to  the  military  host ;  the  rest  stayed  at  home  and  provided  rood 


126          WINNING  AND  LOSING  OF  GEKMA.NY.      CHAP.  UL 

for  the  warriors.  The  next  year  the  warriors  returned  home  and 
tilled  the  Lmd,  while  those  who  had  stayed  at  home  the  previous 
•ear  took  their  places. 

From  this  sketch  it  may  be  inferred  that  the  tribes  known  by 
Caesar  "  were  in  a  state  of  transition  from  the  nomadic  life  to  that 
of  settled  cultivation."  Some  tribes  must  have  been  in  a  more 
advanced  stage  of  development  than  others;  and  this  development 
must  have  been  proceeding  during  the  age  of  Augustus.  But  we 
have  no  means  of  tracing  it. 

§  3.  The  first  disturbance  in  Gaul  after  the  battle  of  Actium  was 
the  revolt  of  the  Celtic  Morini,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Gesoriacum 
(Boulogne);  and  their  rebellion,  perhaps,  was  in  some  way  con- 
nected with  the  invasion  of  the  German  Suevians  from  beyond  the 
Rhine,  in  the  same  year  (29  B.C.).  Tie  Suevians  were  driven  back,  and 
the  Moriiii  subdued  by  Gaius  Carrinas;  while  Nonius  (.iallus,  about 
the  same  time,  suppressed  a  rising  of  the  Treveri,  on  the  MosHla. 
The  following  years  were  marked  by  those  measures  of  organisation 
in  Gaul,  which  have  been  mentioned  already  (Chap.  VI.).  There 
seems  to  have  been  a  good  deal  of  oppression  in  the  taxation,  and 
dissatisfaction  among  the  provincials.  In  25  B.C.  German  invaders 
came  from  beyond  the  Rhine,  and  were  repulsed  by  M.  Vinicius ; 
but  we  know  not  whether  they  came  by  the  inviiarion  of  Roman 
subjects.  More  alarming  was  the  in vasijn  which  took  place  nine 
years  later.  Sugambri,  Usipetes,  and  Tencteri,  tribes  whose  homes 
were  on  the  right  bank  of  the  lower  Rhine,  crossed  the  river  on  an 
expedition  of  plunder,  and  inflicted  a  defeat  on  the  legatus,  M. 
LolHus,  carrying  off  the  eagle  of  the  Vth  legion.  This  event  was 
not  a  very  serious  loss,  but  it  was  a  serious  disgrace.*  Augustus 
hastened  to  Gaul  himself,  taking  Tiberius  with  him ;  the  question 
of  the  defence  of  the  northern  frontiers  was  becoming  serious. 
Tiberius  was  appointed  to  the  military  command  in  Gaul,  and 
offensive  operations  were  be^un  by  the  annexation  of  Noricum  and 
the  conquest  of  Raetia  and  Vindelicia.f 

§  4.  In  12  B.C.  Drusus  succeeded  his  brother  as  commander  of 
the  Rhine  army.  He  was  a  brilliant  yo-mg  man,  hardly  twen'y- 
five  years  old,  handsome,  brave,  and  popular;  of  winning  manners 
worshipped  by  the  soldiers ;  ardent  and  bold,  but  a  sagacious  leader. 
He  lost  no  time  in  setting  about  the  accomplishment  of  his 
scheme  of  conquest  beyond  the  Rhine  ;  and  the  occasion  was  given 

*  Horace  alludes  to  this  in  his  praise     (Odes,  iv.  2.  34)  prophesies  (13  B.C.)  a 
of  Lollius  (Odes,  iv.  9.  36)  to  whom  he      victery  over  the  Susambri  :— 
attributes  a  mind  "  temporibus  \ubiisque  guandoque  trahet  feroces 


rectus.' 


r  See  above,  Chap.  VI.  $  10.    Horace 


Per  sacrum  clivum  merita  decorua 
Fronde  Sugambros. 


12  B.C.  FIRST   CAMPAIGN    OF   DRUSUS  127 

to  him  by  the  hostilities  of  the  Sugambri  and  their  confederates. 
Having  inaugurated  the  altar  of  Augustus  at  Lugudunum,  and  thus 
called  forth  a  display  of  loyal  sentiment  in  Gaul,  he  proceeded  to 
the  lower  Rhine,  threw  a  bridge  acioss  the  river,  and  entered  the 
land  of  the  Usipetes,  who  had  already  begun  hostilities.  This 
tribe  dwelled  on  the  northern  bank  of  the  Luppia,  a  tributary 
of  the  Rhine,  which  still  bears  the  same  name  in  the  form  Lippe. 
The  lands  south  of  the  Luppia  belonged  to  the  Sugambri,  and 
southward  still  as  far  as  the  Laugonna  (now  shortened  into  Lahn) 
dwelt  the  Tencteri.  Having  quelled  the  Usipetes,  the  Roman 
general  marched  southward  to  chastise  the  Sugambri,  who,  under 
their  chieftain  Melo,  had  begun  the  hostilities. 

But  at  present  his  way  did  not  lie  further  in  that  direction.  His 
plan  was  to  subdue  the  northern  regions  of  Germany  first ;  and  he  had 
decided  that  this  must  be  done  in  connection  with  the  navigation  of 
the  northern  coast.  There  were  three  stages  from  the  Rhine  to  the 
Albis.  The  conqueror  must  first  advance  to  the  Amisia,  and  then 
to  the  Visurgis,  before  he  reached  the  Albis,  his  final  limit.  The 
names  of  these  rivers,  thus  Latinized  by  Roman  lips,  are  still  the 
same:  the  Ems,  the  Weser,  and  the  Elbe.  A  canal  connecting  the 
Rhine  with  Lake  Fievo  (as  the  sheet  of  water  corresponding  to  the 
Zuyder  Zee  was  then  called)  was  constructed  by  the  army  under 
Drusns,  from  whom  it  was  named  the  Fossa  Drusiana;  so  that  the 
Hhine  fleet  could  sail  straight  through  the  Lake  into  the  German 
Ocean  and  coast  along  to  the  mouth  of  the  Amisia.  The  Batavians 
acknowledged  without  resistance  the  lordship  of  Rome,  and  helped 
the  troops  in  cutting  the  canal ;  and  the  Frisians,  who  dwelled  north- 
east of  Lak^  Flevo,  likewise  submitted  to  Drusus  without  resistance. 
Having  thus  secured  the  coast  from  the  Rhine  to  the  Amisia,  he 
occupied  the  island  of  Burchanis  (which  we  may  certainly  identify 
with  Bo-knm)  at  the  mouth  of  that  river,  and  sailing  np  the  stream, 
defeated  the  Bructeri  in  a  naval  encounter.  Returning  to  the  sea, 
he  invaded  the  land  of  the  Chauci,  who  inhabited  the  coast  regions 
on  either  side  of  thn  mouth  of  the  Visurgis  ;  but  it  does  not  appear 
whether  the  Roman  fleet  sailed  as  far  as  the  Visurgis,  or  wheiher 
Drusus  advanced  into  the  territory  of  the  Chauci  from  the  Amisia. 
In  the  return  voyage  the  ships  ran  some  danger  in  the  treacherous 
shallows,  but  weie  extricated  by  the  friendly  Frisians  who  had 
accompanied  the  expedition  on  foot. 

§  5.  Thus  the  work  of  Drusus  in  the  first  year  of  his  command 
was  the  reduction  of  the  coast  of  Lower  Germany  as  far  as  the 
Visur-is.  In  the  next  year  (11  B.C.)  he  determined  to  follow  this 
up  by  the  reduction  of  the  inland  regions  in  the  same  direction. 
For  this  purpose  he  had  to  choose  another  way.  The  chief  military 


128         WINNING  AND  LOSENG  OF  GERMANY.      CHAP.  ix. 

station  on  the  Lower  Rhine  was  at  this  time  Castra  Vetera,*  situated 
not  far  from  the  mouth  of  the  Luppia.  Starting  from  h<  re  in  spring, 
the  legions  crossed  the  Rhine,  subdued  once  more  the  unruly 
Usipetes,  threw  a  bridge  across  the  Lup.  ia  and  entered  the  land  of 
the  Sugambri.  In  order  to  advance  eastward  it  was  necessary  to 
secure  the  tranquillity  of  these  troublesome  tribes  in  the  rear. 
Then  following  the  course  of  ths  Luppia,  Drtis  is  advanced  into  the 
land  of  the  Cherusci  (the  modern  Westphalia),  as  far  as  the  banks 
of  the  Visurgis.  It  was  thought  that  the  Sugambri  mi^ht  have 
thrown  obstacles  in  the  way  of  this  achievement,  but  they  were 
fully  occupied  by  a  war  with  their  southern  neighbours,  the  Chatti, 
who  dwelled  about  the  Taunus  Mountains.  Want  of  supplies  and 
the  approach  of  winter  prevented  the  Horn  ins  from  crossing  the 
Visurgis.  In  returning,  they  fell  into  a  snare,  which,  but  for  the 
skill  of  the  general  and  the  discipline  of  the  soldiers,  would  have 
proved  fatal.  At  a  place  named  Arbalo,  which  cannot  be  identified, 
they  were  surrounded  in  a  narrow  pass  by  an  ambushed  enemy. 
But  the  Germans,  confident  in  their  own  position,  and  regarding  the 
Romans  as  lost  men,  took  no  precautions  in  attacking;  and  the 
legions  cut  their  way  through,  and  reached  the  Luppia  in  safety. 
On  the  1  anks  of  that  river,  at  the  point  where  it  receives  the  waters 
of  the  Aliso,  Drusus  erected  a  fort,  as  an  advanced  position  in  tin 
country,  which  was  yet  to  be  thoroughly  subdued.  This  fort,  also 
named  Aliso,  perhaps  corresponds  to  the  modern  Elsen,  the  river 
being  the  Aline.  About  the  same  time  another  fort  was  established 
on  Mount  Taunus,  in  the  territory  of  the  Chatti,  whom  the  Romans 
drove  out  of  their  own  land  into  that  of  the  Sugambri.  The 
following  year  (10  B.C.)  seems  to  have  been  occupied  with  the 
subjugation  of  the  Chatti,  who  were  fighting  to  recover  their  old 
homes  between  the  Laugonna  and  the  Mcenus  (Main).  During 
this  year  Drusus  possessed  the  proconsular  power — that  is  the 
secondary  imperium,  as  it  is  called,  subordinate  to  that  of  the 
Emperor — which  had  been  conferred  upon  him  by  designation  in 
the  previous  year.  Soon  afterwards,  perhaps  in  the  following 
year,  along  with  his  brother  Tiberius  he  received  the  title  of 
imperator. 

While  Drusus  was  thus  actively  accomplishing  his  great  design 
of  a  Roman  Germany,  he  was  not  neglectful  of  the  defence  of 
the  Rhine,  which  was  secured  by  a  line  of  fifty  forts  on  the  left 
bank,  between  the  sea  and  Vindonissa.  The  chief  station  of  the 
Lower  Rhine  was  Castra  Vetera ;  of  the  Upper,  Moguntiacum 
(Mainz),  probably  founded  by  Drusus.  Among  the  most  important 
stations,  which  were  established  either  at  this  time  or  not  much 
*  Birten,  near  Xanteu. 


9  B.O.  DEATH   OF   DRUSUS.  129 

later,  were  Argentoratum,*  the  southern  Noviomagus,  which 
corresponds  to  Speyer,  Borbetomagus,  Bingium,  Bonna;  the 
northern  Noviomagus,  which  is  still  Nimeguen,  and  the  northern 
Lugudunum  on  the  Rhine,  which  has  become  Leyden,  in  contrast 
with  its  southern  namesake  on  the  Rhone,  which  has  been  trans- 
formed into  the  softer  Lyons. 

§  6.  In  the  following  year  the  victorious  young  general,  who 
might  now  lay  claim  to  the  title  of  "  subduer  of  Germany,"  entered 
upon  his  first  consulship.  Bad  omens  at  Rome  in  the  beginning  of 
the  year  did  not  hinder  the  consul  from  setting  forth  in  spring,  to 
carry  on  his  work  beyond  the  Rhine.  This  time  he  was  bent  on  a 
further  progress  than  he  had  yet  achieved.  Hitherto  he  had  not 
advanced  beyond  the  Visurgis ;  it  seemed  now  high  time  to  press 
forward  to  the  Albis  itself.  Starting  probably  from  Moguntiacum 
he  passed  through  the  subject  land  of  the  Chatti  and  entered  the 
borders  of  the  Suevi.  Then  taking  a  northerly  direction,  he  reached 
the  Cherusci  and  the  banks  of  the  Visurgis,  and  crossing  that  river 
marched  to  the  Albis,  hitting  it  perhaps  somewhere  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  the  modern  Magdeburg.  Of  his  adventures  on  this 
march  nothing  is  definitely  recorded,  except  that  the  Romans  wasted 
the  land  and  that  there  were  some  bloody  conflicts.  On  the  bank 
of  the  Albis  he  erected  a  trophy,  marking  the  limit  of  Roman 
progress.  A  strange  and  striking  story  was  told  of  something  said 
to  have  befallen  him  there,  and  to  have  moved  him  to  retreat.  A 
woman  of  greater  than  human  stature  stood  in  his  way  and  motioned 
him  back.  "  Whither  so  fast,  insatiable  Drusus  ?  It  is  not  given 
to  thee  to  see  all  these  things.  Back  !  for  the  end  of  thy  works  and 
thy  life  is  at  hand." 

And  so  it  fell  out.  The  days  of  Drusus  were  numbered.  Some- 
where between  the  Sala,  a  tributary  of  the  Albis,  and  the  Visurgis, 
he  fell  from  his  horse  and  broke  his  leg.  The  injury  resulted  in 
death  after  thirty  days'  suffering;  there  seems  to  have  been  no 
competent  surgeon  in  the  army.  The  alarming  news  of  the 
accident  was  soon  carried  to  Augustus,  who  was  then  somewhere  in 
Gaul.  Tiberius,  who  was  at  Ticinum,  was  sent  for  with  all  haste, 
and  with  all  haste  he  journeyed  to  the  recesses  of  the  German  forest, 
and  reached  the  camp  in  time  to  be  with  his  brother  in  the  last 
moments.  The  grief  at  this  misfortune  was  universal;  both  the 
Emperor  and  the  soldiers  had  lost  their  favourite,  and  the  state  an 
excellent  general.  Drusus  was  not  yet  thirty  years  old;  he  had 
accomplished  a  great  deal,  and  he  looked  forward  to  accomplishing 
far  more.  Perhaps  nothing  will  enable  us  so  well  to  realise  his 
importance  in  history,  as  the  reflection  that,  if  he  had  lived  to  fulfil 

*  Strassburg.    Borbetomagus  is  Worms ;  Bingium,  Blngen ;  and  Bonn*,  Bonn. 
6* 


130         WINNING  AND  LOSING  OF  GERMANY.      CHAP.  ix. 

his  plan,  his  work  could  not  have  been  easily  undone,  the  events 
which  are  presently  to  be  related  could  not  have  happened,  and  the 
history  of  central  Europe  would  have  been  changed. 

'\  he  corpse  was  carried  to  the  winter-quarters  on  the  Rhine  and 
thence  to  Home,  where  it  was  burned  ;  the  ashes  were  bestowed  in 
the  mausoleum  of  Augustus.  Two  funeral  speeches  were  pronounced, 
one  in  the  Forum  by  Tiberius,  the  other  by  Augustus  himself  in  the 
Flaminian  Circus.  Be-ides  these  solemnities,  more  lasting  honours 
were  decreed  to  the  dead  hero.  The  name  Germanicus  was  given  to 
the  conqueror  of  Germany,  and  to  his  children  after  him.  A 
cenotaph  was  built  at  Moguiiiiacum,  and  a  triumphal  arch  erected 
to  record  the  founder  ol  the  new  province.  It  would  seem  that 
Moguntiacum  was  in  some  special  way  associated  with  Drusus. 
These  monuments  in  stone  have  not  come  down  to  us,  but  there  has 
survived  a  monument  in  verse,  an  ele;j;y  addressed  to  his  mother,  the 
Empress  Li  via.  We  could  wish  that  the  author  of  the  Consolatio 
ad  Liviam  had  given  a  more  distinct  piciure  of  the  qualities  of  the 
young  general  whom  he  deplores. 

SECT.  II. — TIBERIUS  IN  GERMANY.    THE  PANNONIAN  REVOLT. 

§  7.  It  now  devolved  upon  Tiberius,  who  possessed  the  pro- 
consular power  and  the  title  of  imperator,  to  carry  on  his  brother's 
work.  He  took  the  place  ol  Drus  is  as  governor  of  the  Three  Gauls 
and  commander  of  the  armies  on  the  lihine,  and  maintained  the 
Roman  supremacy  over  the  hall-S'ibdue'l  German  tribes  between 
that  river  and  the  Albi*.  The  pacification  of  the  Sugambri  was  at 
length  effecti  d  by  strong  measures,  and  they  were  assigned 
territory  <>n  the  left  bank  of  the  Rhine.  Each  summer  the  Roman 
legions  appeared  in  various  parts  of  the  new  province;  the  Roman 
general  dealt  out  justice,  and  Roman  advocates  appeared  beyond  the 
Rhine.  There  was  *till  much  to  be  done  to  place  Germany  on  the 
level  of  other  provinces  ;  it  would  have  been  perhaps  unsafe  as  yet 
to  n  quire  the  Germans  to  contribute  aunfia,  or  t<>  impose  on  them 
a  regular  tribute.  Tiberius  p-ssessed  the  confidence  of  the  army, 
but  he  <lid  not,  like  Orusrs,  possess  the  affection  of  the  Emperor. 
In  7  B.C.,  the  year  of  his  second  consulship,  he  received 
triumphal  honours;  but  he  did  not  return  to  Germany,  and  in  the 
following  year  he  retired  to  Rhodes.  Little  is  recorded  of  his 
successors,  but  it  is  not  to  be  assuired  that  they  were  idle  or 
incompetent.  The  courtly  writers  of  tlv*  day  had  eyes  only  for 
the  exploits  of  D'usus  and  Tiberius,  the  princes  of  the  imperial 
house.  The  c<>n>nliriati<>n  of  the  conquests  of  Drusus  was  doubtless 
carried  on  amid  frequent  local  rebellions,  such  as  that  in  1  B.C., 


*-6  A.D.  TIBERIUS   IN   GERMANY.  131 

which  was  put  down  by  M.  Vinicius.  Another  legatus,  L. 
Domitius  Ahenobarbus,  built  a  road,  called  the  ponies  longi, 
connecting  the  Amisia  with  the  Rhine.  These  commanders,  how- 
ever, were  not  entrusted,  like  Drusus  and  Tiberius,  with  the 
government,  of  the  Three  Gauls. 

After  the  deaths  of  Gaius  and  Lucius  Caesar,  Tiberius  was 
reconciled  with  his  stepfather,  and  undertook  the  command  of  the 
armies  on  the  Rhine  once  more.  The  legions  were  de'ighted  to  be 
commanded  by  a  general  whom  they  knew  and  trusted,  whose 
ability  was  proved,  and  who  was  now  marked  out  as  the  successor 
to  the  Empire.  And  there  was  need  of  a  strong  hand,  for  there  had 
been  many  tokens  of  an  unruly  spirit.  In  his  first  campaign  (4  A.D.) 
Tiberius  advances  beyond  the  Visurgis,  and  reduced  the  Cherusci 
who  had  thrown  off  the  Roman  yoke;  and  for  the  first  time  the 
Koman  army  passed  the  winter  beyond  the  Rhine  in  the  fort  of 
Aliso  on  the  Luppia.  In  the  following  year  (5  A.D.)  the  Lower  Albis 
was  reached,  and  an  insurrection  of  the  Chauci  was  suppressed. 
The  Langobardi,  who  dwelled  in  these  parts,  and  of  whom  we  hear 
now  for  the  first  time. — a  people  destined  in  a  later  age  to  rule  in 
Italy  arid  become  famous  under  the  name  of  "  Lombards  " — were 
also  reduced.  This  expedition  was  carried  out  by  the  joint 
operations  of  a  fleet  and  a  land  army.  Tiberius  repeated  on  a 
larger  scale  what  Drusus  had  done  eiuhteen  years  before.  But 
while  on  the  earlier  occasion  the  Roman  fleet  had  not  advanced 
beyond  the  mou'h  of  the  Visurgis  (if  so  far),  under  the  auspices  of 
Tiberius  it  reached  the  Albis  and  even  sailed  to  the  northern 
promontory  of  the  Cimbric  peninsula.  Some  peoples  east  of  the 
Albis,  such  as  the  Sem  ones,  the  Charydes,  and  the  Cimbri  (in 
Denmark),  sent  envoys  seeking  the  friendship  of  the  Emperor  and 
the  Roman  people. 

§  8.  The  authority  of  Tiberius  had  thus  pacified  the  trans- 
Rhenane  dominion  of  Rome,  and  in  the  following  year  (6  A.D.)  a  new 
enterprise  of  conquest  was  entrusted  to  his  conduct.  When  Drusus 
in  his  last  expedition  marched  up  the  Mcenus,  he  entered  the  land 
of  the  Marcomanni,  and  they,  under  the  L  adership  of  their  chief 
Maroboduus,  retreated  before  him  into  that  lozenge-shaped, 
mountain-girt  country  in  central  En  rope,  which  has  derived  its  name 
Boiohammm,  Bohemia,  from  the  Celtic  Boii  who  then  inhabited  it. 
TheMaicomanni  dispossessed  the  Colts,  and  Marobodnus  established 
a  powerful  and  united  state,  which  extended  its  sway  eastward,  and 
north  war  '  over  the  n<  i  'hb-uring  German  tribes.  The  ideas  of  this 
remarkable  man  were  far  in  advan  e  of  his  countrymen.  He  had  a 
leaning  to  I  toman  civilisation,  and  he  was  ready  to  learn  from  it  the 
methods  and  uses  of  political  organisation.  He  formed  and 


132         WINNING  AND  LOSING  OF  GERMANY.      CHAP.  rx. 

disciplined  in  Roman  fashion  an  army  of  70,000  foot  and  4000  horse. 
But  his  policy  was  essentially  one  of  peace.  He  desired  to  avoid  a 
war  with  Rome,  and  yet  to  make  it  plain  that  he  was  quite  strong 
enough  to  hold  his  own.  He  was  willing  to  be  a  friendly  ally,  but 
he  was  not  disposed  to  be  a  vassal.  Geography,  however,  rendered 
a  collision  unavoidable.  For  Rome,  possessing  Germany  in  the 
north,  and  Noricum  and  Pannonia  in  the  south,  it  would  have  been 
impossible  to  allow  the  permanent  presence  of  an  independent 
German  state  wedged  in  between  these  provinces.  The  actual 
occupation  of  the  territory  between  the  Dravus  and  the  Danube,  if 
it  had  not  already  taken  place,  was  merely  a  question  of  time,  and 
it  was  obviously  necessary  to  have  a  continuous  line  of  frontier  from 
the  Albis  to  the  Danube.  Policy  demanded  that  the  Empire  should 
absorb  the  realm  of  Maroboduus,  and  advance  to  the  river  Marus 
(now  the  March,  which  flows  into  the  Danube  below  Pressburg). 

The  legions  of  the  Rhine  under  an  experienced  commander, 
On.  Sentius  Saturninus,  advanced  from  the  valley  of  the  Mcenus, 
breaking  their  way  through  the  unknown  depths  of  the  Hercynian 
Forest,  to  meet  the  legions  of  Illyricum,  which  Tiberius  led  across 
the  Danube  at  Carnuntum.  Both  armies  together  numbered  twelve 
legions,  nearly  double  of  the  troops  mustered  by  Maroboduus ;  and 
under  the  command  of  a  cautious  and  experienced  leader  like 
Tiberius  the  success  of  the  enterprise  seemed  assured.  But  it  was 
not  to  be.  Before  the  armies  met,  sudden  tidings  of  a  most 
alarming  kind  imperatively  recalled  the  general.  A  revolt,  caused 
by  oppressive  taxation,  had  broken  out  in  Dalmatia  and  Pannonia, 
and  of  so  serious  a  nature  that  not  only  were  the  Illyric  legions 
obliged  to  return,  but  the  troops  of  Mcesia  and  even  forces  from 
beyond  the  sea  (probably  from  Syria)  were  required  to  assist  in 
suppressing  it.  This  would  have  been  an  excellent  opportunity 
for  Marohoduus  to  take  the  offensive,  but  he  clung  to  his  policy 
of  neutrality,  and  accepted  terms  of  peace  which  were  proposed 
by  Tiberius.  The  army  of  Sentius  Saturninus  hastened  back  to 
the  Rhine  to  prevent  a  simultaneous  outbreak  there. 

§  9.  The  Pannonian  revolt  lasted  for  three  years,  the  Dalmatian 
for  one  year  longer.  In  Dalmatia  the  leader  of  the  insurgents  was 
one  Bato.  He  made  an  attempt  to  capture  Salonse,  but  was  obliged 
to  retire  severely  wounded,  and  had  to  content  himself  with 
ravaging  the  coast  of  Macedonia  as  far  south  as  Apollonia.  The 
Icgatus  of  Illyricum,  M.  Valerius  Messalinus,  son  of  the  orator 
Messalla,  contended  against  Mm  with  varying  success.  In  Pan- 
nonia, another  Bato,  chief  of  the  Breuci,  was  the  most  prominent 
leader.  As  the  Dalmatian  Bato  failed  to  take  Salonse,  so  the 
Pannonian  Bn'o  failed  to  take  Sirmium,  and  was  defeated  before  its 


6-8  A.D. 


PANNONIAN   REBELLION. 


133 


walls  by  Aulus  Caecina  Severus,  the  legatus  of  Moesia,  wlio  had 
hurried  to  the  scene  of  action.  After  this  the  two  Batos  seem  to 
have  joined  forces  and  taken  up  a  strong  position  on  Mount  Almas, 
close  to  Sirmium.  Tiberius  passed  the  winter  in  Siscia,  and  made 
that  plase  the  basis  of  his  operations  in  Pannonia.  As  many  as 
fifteen  legions  were  ultimately  collected  in  the  rebellious  provinces 
under  his  command,  and  the  loyal  princes  of  Thrace  had  also  come 
to  the  rescue.  An  unusually  large  number  of  auxiliary  troops,  fully 
90,000,  were  employed  in  this  war.  Terror  was  felt  not  only  in 
Macedonia,  but  even  in  Italy  and  Borne.  Augustus  himself  had 
hastened  to  Ariminum,  to  be  near  the  seat  of  war ;  levies  were 
raised  in  Italy  and  placed  under  Gennanicus,  son  of  Drusus,  a 
youth  of  twenty-one  years.  In  7  A.D.  the  course  of  the  hostilities 
was  desultory ;  the  rebels  avoided  engagements  in  the  open  field. 
Gennanicus  advanced  from  Siscia  along  the  river  Unna  into 
western  Dalmatia,  and  conquered  the  tribe  of  the  Msezsei,  who 
dwelled  in  the  extreme  west  of  modern  Bosnia.  Subsequently 
(7-8  A.D.)  he  captured  three  important  strongholds,*  which  seem 
to  have  been  situated  on  the  borders  of  Liburnia  and  lapydia.  The 
next  serious  event  was  the  long  siege  of  Arduba,f  in  south-eastern 
Dalmatia,  which  was  marked  by  the  heroic  obstinacy  of  the  women, 
who,  when  the  place  was  captured,  threw  themselves  and  their 
children  into  the  fire.  But  in  the  following  autumn  the  Pannonian 
Bato  was  induced  to  betray  his  cause.  He  surrendered  in  a  battle 
fought  at  the  stream  of  Bathi&ua$  (August  3)  and  handed  over 
his  colleague  and  rival  Pinnes  to  Tiberius,  who  in  return  recog- 
nised him  as  prince  of  the  Breuci.  But  his  treachery  did  not  go 
unpunished.  He  was  caught  and  put  to  death  by  his  Dalmatian 
namesake.  Germanicus  hastened  in  person  to  carry  the  news  of 
the  Bathinus  to  Augustus  at  Ariminum,  and  the  Emperor  returned 
to  Home,  where  he  was  received  with  thank-offerings.  But  although 
this  victory  practically  determined  the  end  of  the  war,  Tiberius  was 
obliged  in  the  following  year  to  bring  his  forces  again  into  the  field 
against  the  Dalmatians,  and  Bato,  besieged  in  his  last  refuge, 
Andetrium  (near  Salonse),  at  length  gave  up  the  desperate  cause, 
and  was  sent  as  a  prisoner  to  Ravenna,  where  he  died  When  he 
was  led  before  Tiberius,  and  was  asked  why  he  had  rebelled,  he 
replied, "  It  is  your  doing,  in  that  ye  send  not  dogs  or  shepherds 
to  guard  your  sheep,  but  wolves  to  prey  on  them." 


*  Splonum,  Rsetinium,  and  Seretium. 
Plausible  suggestions  have  been  made  as 
to  the  identity  of  the  first  and  second ; 
Seretium  is  quite  unknown. 

f  Possibly  on  the  way  from  Narona  to 


Scodra. 

%  Now  the  Bednya,  which  falls  into  the 
Drave  south-east  of  Warasdin.  The  date 
Is  determined  by  an  inscription  (C.  I.  L, 
ix.  6637)  TI.  AVG.  IN  LYRICO  VIC. 


134         WINNING  AND  LOSING  OF  GEKMANY.      CHAP.  ix. 

Germanicus,  who  had  taken  part  in  the  suppression  of  this 
dangerous  and  tedious  war — the  hardest,  it  was  said,  since  the  war 
witli  Hannibal — showed  high  promise  of  future  distinction,  and, 
like  his  father,  was  a  universal  favourite.  Triumphal  ornarnen's 
were  granted  to  him,  and  h«  was  placed  first  in  the  rank  of  i  ras- 
torians  in  the  senate.  To  Tiberius  himself  the  senate  decreed  a 
triumph,  but  it  was  not  des^ied  to  be  celebrate'!.  The  people 
had  hardly  time  to  realise  the  successes  of  the  legions  of  the 
Danube,  when  the  news  came  of  a  terrible  disaster  which  had 
befallen  the  legions  of  the  Rhine. 

SECT.  III. — THE  GERMAN  REBELLION  AND  DEFEAT  OF  VABUS. 

§  10.  The  Emperor  seems  to  have  entertained  few  fears  of  the 
possibility  of  a  rising  in  his  new  German  province.  For  he  named 
as  commander  of  the  Rhine  armies  a  man,  distantly  related  to  him- 
self by  marriage,  who  had  no  experience  of  active  warfare  and  was 
quite  incompetent  to  meet  any  grave  emergency.  This  was 
Publius  Quinctilius  Yarus,  who,  as  imperial  legatus  in  Syria,  had 
won  wealth,  if  not  fame.  It  was  said  that  when  he  came  to  that 
province  he  was  poor  and  Syria  was  rich  ;  but  when  he  went,  he 
was  rich  and  Syria  was  poor.  His  experiences  as  governor  of  .-yria 
proved  unlucky  for  him  as  governor  in  Germany.  He  utterly 
misconceived  the  situation.  He  imagined  that  the  policy  which 
he  had  successfully  pursued  in  Syria  might  be  adopted  equally  well 
in  Germany.  He  failed  to  perceive  the  differences  between  the  two 
cases  ;  and  to  mark  the  weak  grasp  with  which  Rome,  MS  yet,  held 
the  lands  between  the  Rhine  and  the  A  Ibis.  He  seems  to  have 
felt  himself  perfectly  sale  in  the  wild  places  of  Germany,  under  the 
shield  of  the  Roman  name  ;  he  imposed  taxes  on  the  natives  and 
dealt  judgment  without  any  fear  of  consequences. 

But  a  storm  was  brewing  under  his  very  eyes,  It  seemed  to 
those  German  patriots,  who  could  never  brook  with  patience  the 
rule  of  a  foreign  master,  that  the  moment  had  come  when  a 
struggle  for  the  liberty  of  their  nation  might  be  attempted  with 
some  chance  of  success.  In  this  enterprise  only  four  prominent 
German  peoples  were  concerned,  the  Cherusci,  the  Chatti,  the  Marsi, 
and  the  Bructeri;  the  same  who  had  before  distinguished  them- 
selves by  their  opposition  to  Drusus.  The  Frisians,  the  Chauci, 
the  Suevic  peoples  who  acknowledged  the  overlordship  of  Maroboduus, 
took  no  part  in  this  insurrection.  The  plotter  and  leader  of  the 
rebellion  was  the  Cheruscan  prince  Arminiup,  s«>n  of  Sigimer,  then 
in  the  twenty-sixth  year  of  his  age.  He  and  his  brother  Flavus 
had  received  the  privilege  of  Roman  citizenship  from  Augustus; 


9  A.D.  AKM1NIUS.  135 

he  had  been  raised  to  the  equestrian  rank,  and  had  seen  military 
sirvice  under  the  Koman  standard.  He  was  not  only  physically 
brave,  hut  it  was  thought  tliat  he  possessed  intellectual  qualities 
unusual  in  a  barbarian.  The  Romans  naturally  trusted  his  loyalty, 
and  the  insinuations  of  Seg(  stes  his  countryman,  who  knew  him 
beiter,  received  no  attention. 

SLiiner,  the  Irother,  and  Segimund,  the  son  of  this  Sezestes, 
threw  themselves  into  the  enterprise  of  Arminius,  and  Thusnelda, 
the  daughter  of  !Se,;estes,  married  the  young  patriot  against  the 
wishes  of  her  father. 

It  was  the  policy  of  the  contrivers  of  the  insurrection  to  keep  the 
design  dark  umil  the  last  moment,  and  in  the  meantime  to  lull 
\  arns,  alieady  secure,  into  a  security  still  more  complete.  Of  the 
five  Germanic  legions,  two  had  their  winter-quarters  at  Mognntiacum, 
the  other  three  at  C.istra  Vetira  on  "he  Lower  Rhine,  or  at  the 
fortress  of  Aliso  on  the  Lupp'a.  In  summer  they  used  sometimes 
to  visit  the  interior  parts  of  the  province ;  and  in  9  A.P.,  Varus, 
with  three  legions,  occupied  summer-quarters  on  the  \  isurgis, 
probably  not  far  from  the  mode»n  town  of  Minden  and  the  Porta 
Wtsifalica.  The  camp  was  mil  of  advocates  and  clients,  and  the 
chief  conspirators  were  present,  on  intimate  terms  with  the  governor 
and  c-  nsiantly  dining  with  him.  Autumn  came,  and  as  the  ra-ny 
season  apiroichid  Varus  prepared  to  retrace  his  steps  westward. 
There  can  be  no  doubt  that  a  line  of  communicai  ion  connected  his 
summer  station  wi  h  Aliso;  and,  if  the  army  had  returned  as  it 
came,  Arminius  could  hamly  have  been  success  ul  in  his  plans. 
But  a  message  suddenly  arrived  that  a  distant  tribe  had  revolt  d, 
and  Varus  decided  to  take  a  roundabout  way  homewards  in  order 
to  suppress  it.  This  news  was  suspiciously  opportune  for  the 
rebels.  The  Romans  had  to  make  their  way  through  a  hilly 
district  of  pathless  forests,  and  their  difficulties  were  increased  not 
only  by  the  encumbrances  of  heavy  baggage  and  camp-followers, 
but  by  the  heavy  rains,  which  had  already  begun  and  made  the 
ground  slippery.  The  moment  had  come  for  the  German  patriots 
to  strike  a  desperate  blow  for  independence.  Segestes  warned 
Varus  of  the  impending  dancer,  but  the  infatuated  governor  trusted 
the  as-everations  of  Arminius.  As  the  legions  were  making  their 
laborious  way  tl  rough  ihesaltus  Teutoburgiensis,  they  were  assailed 
by  the  confederate  insurgents.  This  Teutoburg  forest  cannot  be 
identified  with  any  certainty,  but  it  seems  to  have  been  somewhere 
between  the  Amisia  and  the  Luppia,  north-east  of  Aliso.  It  is 
impossible  to  determine  how  far  ihe  circumstances  of  the  case  and 
how  far  the  incompetence  of  the  general  were  to  blame  for  the 
disaster  which  followed. 


136          WINNING  AND  LOSING  OF  GERMANY.      CHAP.  ix. 

For  three  Hays  the  Bomans  continued  to  advance,  resisting 
as  well  as  they  could  the  attacks  of  the  foe,  and  if  Varus  had 
possessed  the  confidence  of  his  soldiers  and  known  how  to  hold 
them  together,  it  seems  probable  that  he  might  have  passed  through 
the  danger  in  safety.  But  both  officers  and  soldiers  were  demoralised 
under  his  command.  The  prefect  of  the  horse  deserted  his  post, 
taking  all  the  cavalry  with  him,  and  leaving  the  foot-soldiers  to 
their  fate.  Varus  was  the  first  to  despair;  he  had  received  a 
wound,  and  he  slew  himself.  Others  followed  his  example;  and 
the  rest  surrendered.  The  prisoners  were  slain,  some  buried  alive, 
some  crucified,  some  sacrificed  on  the  altars.  The  forces  of  Varus 
consisted  of  three  legions  (XVII.,  XVIII.,  XIX.),  six  cohorts,  and 
three  squadrons  of  cavalry.  The  army  had  been  weakened  by  the 
loss  of  detachments,  which,  at  the  request  of  the  conspirators,  had 
been  sent  to  the  territories  of  various  tribes  to  preserve  order. 
These  detachments,  taken  chiefly  from  the  auxiliary  cohorts,  were 
slaughtered  when  the  insurrection  broke  out.  Of  the  troops  which 
were  entrapped  in  the  Teutoburg  forest,  numbering  probably  almost 
20,000  men,  only  the  cavalry  escaped  and  a  few  individual  foot- 
soldiers.  The  three  eagles  of  the  three  legions  fell  into  the  hands 
of  the  victors.  Such  a  disaster  had  not  befallen  since  the  day  of 
Carrhae. 

The  peoples  of  central  Germany  from  the  Rhine  to  the  Visurgis 
had  thus  thrown  off  the  Roman  yoke ;  the  cause  of  freedom  had 
been  victorious.  Two  results,  fraught  with  great  danger  to  the 
Roman  Empire,  seemed  likely  to  follow.  It  was  to  be  feared  that 
the  triumphant  Germans  would  push  across  to  the  left  bank  of  the 
Rhine,  arouse  a  revolt  there,  and  perhaps  shake  the  fidelity  of  Gaul. 
And  seemingly  it  was  to  be  feared  that  Maroboduus,  lord  of  the 
Marcomanni,  and  chief  of  the  Suevic  confederacy,  would  declare 
himself  on  the  side  of  the  insurgents,  now  they  were  successful. 
But  neither  of  these  dangers  was  realised.  The  first  was 
foiled  by  the  bravery  of  Lucius  Caedicius,  commander  of  the 
garrison  in  Aliso,  and  the  promptness  of  Lucius  Nonius  Asprenas, 
who  commanded  the  two  legions  stationed  at  Moguntiacum.  The 
first  movement  of  the  rebels  after  their  victory  was  to  attack  Aliso, 
but  Caedicius  defended  it  so  bravely  that  they  were  obliged  to 
blockade  it.  When  provisions  ran  short  and  no  relief  came,  the 
garrison  stole  out  on  a  dark  night,  and  made  their  way,  harassed 
by  the  attacks  of  the  enemy,  to  Castra  Vetera.  Thither  Asprenas, 
when  the  news  of  the  disaster  reached  him,  had  hastened  with  his 
two  legions,  to  hinder  the  Germans  from  crossing  the  Rhine. 

The  other  danger  was  frustrated  by  the  peculiar  temper  of 
Marotx>duus  himself.  Arminius  had  triumphantly  sent  him  the 


9  A.D.  DEFEAT   OF    VARUS.  137 

head  of  Varus  as  a  token  of  his  own  amazing  success,  hoping  to 
persuade  him  to  join  the  confederacy  against  Rome.  But  the 
message  was  ineffectual.  Maroboduus  refused  to  link  himself 
with  the  insurgents  or  to  depart  from  his  policy  of  neutrality. 

§  11.  When  the  news  of  the  defeat  reached  Rome,  Augustus  met 
the  emergency  with  spirit  and  energy.  The  citizens  seemed  in- 
different to  the*  crisis ;  many  of  them  refused  to  place  their  names 
on  the  military  roll;  and  the  Empeior  was  obliged  to  resort  to  fines 
and  threats  of  severer  punishment.  Troops  hastily  levied  from  the 
veterans  and  freedmen  were  sent  with  all  speed  to  the  Rhine;  and 
the  Germans,  who  served  as  an  imperial  bodyguard,  were 
disarmed  and  driven  forth  from  Rome.  In  the  following  year 
(10A.D.)  Tiberius  assumed  the  command  of  the  Rhine  army,  which 
was  increased  to  tight  legions.  Four  of  these  were  doubtless 
stationed  at  Moguntiacum  and  lour  at  Vetera ;  and  it  was  probably 
the  Emperor's  intention  that  when  the  immediate  crisis  was  past, 
the  command  of  the  Germanic  armies  should  be  divided  between 
two  generals.  During  the  first  year  Tiberius  seems  to  have  been 
engaged  in  organising  the  defence  of  the  Rhine,  restoring  the 
confidence  of  the  old  legions,  and  establishing  discipline  among  the 
new.  In  the  next  year,  11  A.D.,  he  crossed  the  river,  and  spent 
the  summer  in  Germany,  but  he  does  not  seem  to  have  ventured 
far  into  the  country  or  to  have  attempted  any  hostile  enterprise.  He 
was  accompanied  by  his  nephew  Germanicus,  to  whom  proconsular 
powers  had  been  granted.  In  the  following  year  the  duties  of  his 
consulship  retained  Germanicus  at  Rome,  but  in  13  A.D.  he  suc- 
ceeded Tiberius  in  the  sole  command  on  the  Rhine.  During  these 
years  nothing  was  done  against  the  Germans,  though  the  state  of 
war  still  continued ;  but  Germanicus  was  not  long  content  with 
inactivity.  Upon  him  seetned  to  de*olve  the  duty  of  restoring  his 
father's  work,  which  had  been  so  disastrously  demolished,  and  he 
burned  to  do  it.  But  his  efforts  to  recover  the  lost  dominion  and 
reach  the  Albis  once  more  must  form  the  subject  of  another  chapter. 


SECT.  IV. — THE  DEATH  OF  AUGUSTUS. 

§  12.  The  slaughter  of  the  Varian  legions  in  the  wilds  of 
Germany  tarnished  the  lustre  of  Roman  arms,  and  cast  a  certain 
gloom  over  the  last  days  of  the  Augustan  age.  The  Emperor 
himself,  now  stricken  in  years,  felt  the  blow  painfully.  He  let  his 
hair  and  beard  grow  long.  It  is  said  that  he  dashed  his  head 
against  the  walls  of  his  chamber,  crying,  "  Varus,  Varus,  give  me 
back  my  legions ! "  Every  year  he  went  into  mourning  on  the 


138         WINNING  AND  LOSING  OF  GEKMANY.      CHAP.  ix. 

anniversary  of  the  defeat.  He  knew  that  his  end  must  sonn  come, 
and  he  began  to  set  his  house  in  order.  In  12  A.D.  he  addressed  a 
letter  to  the  senate,  in  which  lie  commended  Germanicus  to  its 
protection,  and  commended  the  senate  itself  to  the  vigilance  of 
Tiberius.  In  the  following  year  he  assumed  once  more  the  pro- 
consular power  for  a  period  of  ten  years.  At  the  same  time  (as 
has  been  recorded  in  Chapter  IV.),  Tiberius  was  raised  to  a  position 
almost  equal  to  that  of  the  Emperor  himself,  and  his  son  Drusus 
received  the  piivile^e  of  standing  for  the  consulship  in  three  years, 
without  the  preliminary  step  of  the  prsetorship. 

A  census  was  held  in  14  A.D.,  and  after  its  completion  Tiberius 
set  out  for  Illyricum,  where  he  was  to  resume  the  supreme  com- 
mand. Augu.-tus  accompanied  him  as  lar  as  Beneventum,  but  in 
returning  to  t  e  Campanian  cotst  was  attacked  by  dysentery  and 
died  at  Nola  (August  19).  Tiberius  had  been  sent  for  without 
delay,  and  came,  perhaps  in  time  to  hear  the  parting  words  of  his 
stepfather.  There  is  no  good  reason  to  believe  the  insinuation  that 
the  Emperor's  death  was  caused  or  hastened  by  poison  administered 
by  Livia.  Her  son's  accession  was  sure,  and  Augustus  was  old  and 
weak;  so  that  it  would  hardly  have  leen  worth  while  to  commit 
the  crime. 

§  13.  Both  contemporaries  and  posterity  had  good  cause  to 
regard  Augustus  as  a  benefactor  ;  he  had  given  them  the  gift  of 
peace.  They  also  esteemed  him  fortunate  (felix) ;  and  his  good 
fortune  became  almost  proverbial.  Yet  it  has  been  truly  remarked 
that  luck  was  the  one  thing  that  failed  him.  Both  points  of  view 
are  true.  He  was  unusually  fortunate.  When  he  entered  upon 
his  career  as  a  competitor  for  power,  his  motives  were  probably  as 
vulgar  as  those  of  his  rivals ;  there  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  in 
the  pursuit  of  ambition  he  had  large  views  of  political  r«  form  or  an 
exalted  ideal  of  statesman "hip.  His  actions  throughout  the  Civil 
War  indicate  the  shrewd,  cool,  and  collected  mind;  they  give  no 
token  of  wide  views,  no  promise  of  the  future  greatness.  "  But  his 
intellect  expanded  with  his  fortunes,  and  his  soul  grew  with  his 
intell  ct."*  When  he  came  to  be  supreme  ruler,  he  rose  to  the 
position;  ho  learned  to  take  a  large  view  of  the  functions  of  the 
lord  of  ihe  Uonian  world;  and  there  was  born  in  him  a  spirit  oi 
enthusiasm  for  the  work1  which  history  set  him  to  accomplish.  H« 
knew  too  how  to  bear  his  fortune  with  dignity.  But  he  Wcis  un« 
lucky  when  his  fortune  wa<  most  firmly  established.  It  was  nol 
given  to  the  founder  of  the  Empire  to  leave  a  successor  of  his  own 
blood;  and,  as  we  have  seen,  his  end«avours  to  set  le  the  sue- 
cession  were  doomed  to  one  bitter  disappointment  alter  another 
*  Merivale,  cap.  xxxviii.,  ad  fin. 


14  A.D.  DEATH  OF  AUGUSTUS. 

and  led  to  domestic  unhappiness.  And  it  was  not  given  to  him  to 
establish  a  secure  frontier  for  the  northern  provinces  of  ihe  Empire. 
The  efforts  in  that  direction,  which  were  made  under  his  auspice! 
and  seemed  on  the  eve  of  being  crowned  with  success,  were  undone 
by  a  stroke  of  bad  luck.  Yet,  reviewing  his  whole  career  as  a 
statesman  and  reflecting  on  all  that  he  achieved,  we  may  assuredly 
say  that  the  Divine  Augu-tus  was  fortunate  wiih  a  measure 
of  good  fortune  that  is  rarely  bestowed  on  men  who  live  out 
the.r  life. 

§  14.  The  written  memorial  of  his  own  acts  which  Augustus 
composed  before  his  death  may  be  spoken  of  here.  It  has  been 
incompletely  preserved  in  a  Latin  inscription  which  covers  the 
walls  of  the  pronaos  of  a  temple  of  Augustus  at  Ancyra.  Owing  to 
this  accident  it  is  generally  known  as  the  Monumentum  Ancyranum, 
but  its  proper  title  was  JRes  gestas  diiri  Auyusti.  Fragments  of  the 
Greek  text  of  the  same  work  have  also  been  found  in  Pisidia,  and 
have  hel|  ed  scholars  in  restoring  the  sense,  where  the  Latin  fails. 
In  this  document  the  Emperor  briefly  describes  his  acts  from  his 
nineteenth  to  his  seventy-seventh  year,  with  remarkable  dignity, 
reserve,  and  moderation.  The  <ir«  at  historical  value  of  this 
memorial,  composed  by  the  founder  of  the  empire  himself,  need 
hardly  be  pointed  out. 

Au  extract  will  give  an  idea  of  the  way  in  which  the  great 
statesman  wrote  the  brief  chronicle  of  the  history  which  he  made. 

"  I  extended  the  frontiers,"  he  says,  "  of  all  those  provinces  of 
the  Roman  people,  on  whose  borders  there  were  nations  not  subject 
to  our  empire.  I  pacified  the  provinces  of  the  Gauls  and  the 
Spains,  and  Germany,  from  Gades  to  the  mouth  of  the  Albis. 
I  reduced  to  a  state  of  peace  the  Alps  from  the  district  which  is 
nearest  the  Adriatic  Sea  to  the  Tu>can  Sea,  without  wrongful 
aggressions  on  any  nation.  My  fleet  navigated  the  ocean  from 
the  mouth  of  the  Rhine  eastward  as  far  the  borders  of  the  Cimbri, 
whither  no  Roman  before  ever  passed  either  by  land  or  sea ; 
and  the  Cimbri,  the  Charydes,  and  the  Senmoms  and  other 
German  peoples  of  the  same  region  sought  the  friendship  of  me 
and  the  Roman  ]>eople.  By  my  command  and  under  my  auspices 
two  armies  were  sent,  almost  at  the  same  time  to  Ethiopia  and 
to  Arabia,  calkd  Euda^mon  [Felix],  and  very  large  forces  of  the 
enemies  in  both  countries  were  cut  to  pieces  in  battle,  and  many 
towns  taken.  The  invaders  of  Ethiopia  advanced  as  far  as  the 
town  of  Kabata,  very  near  Meroe.  The  army  which  invaded 
Arabia  marched  into  tha  territory  of  the  Sabasi,  as  far  as  the  town 
of  Mariba," 

Another  work  compiled  by  Augustus  was  the  JSremarium  Imperii, 


140 


WINNING  AND  LOSING  OF  GERMANY.      CHAP.  ix. 


containing  a  short  statement  of  all  the  resources  of  the  Romaii 
State,  and  including  the  number  of  the  population  of  citizens, 
subjects,  and  allies.  It  was  in  fact  a  handbook  to  the  statistics 
of  the  Roman  Empire.  At  the  end  of  this  work  he  recorded 
his  solemn  advice  to  succeeding  sovrans,  not  to  attempt  to  extend 
the  boundaries  of  the  Empire. 


NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


A.— THE  LEGIONS  IN  DAL  MAT  I  A, 

6-9  A.D. 

Six  legions  operated  in  Dalmatia  during 
the  rebellion:  VII.,  VIII.,  XI.,  XV. 
Apollinaris,  XX.  Valeria  Victrix.  The 
Vllth  and  Xlth  remained  in  the 
country  after  the  conclusion  of  the  war ; 
the  other  four  were  withdrawn.  The 
XVth  and  XXth  were  specially  formed 
for  the  war.  The  headquarters  of  the 
VII th  were  at  Delmiuium,  north-east  of 
Salonse;  those  of  the  Xlth  at  Burnum, 
near  Kistanje,  on  south  border  of  Libur- 
nia,  but  later  probably  at  Salonse.  The 
camp  of  the  XXth  was  also  at  Burnum ; 
that  of  the  VHIth  probably  at  Asseria, 
west  of  Burnum,  on  the  road  to  Zara,  near 
the  modern  Podgradje. 

See  the  important  article  of  0.  Hirsch- 
feld,  Zur  GescJi.  des  pannonisch-dalma- 
tischen  Krieges,  in  Hermes,  xxv.  351 
sqq. 

B. -SCENE  OF  THE  DEFEAT  OF 
VARUS. 

Many  attempts  have  been  made  to 
etermine  the  battlefield  on  which  the 


legions  of  Varus  were  destroyed,  and  to 
identify  the  Ten toburgensis  saltus.  Claims 
have  been  advanced  for  various  places, 
but  it  is  improbable  that  the  question 
will  ever  be  decided  with  certainty.    It 
!  seems  clear  from  the  rest  of  the  narrative 
that  the  spot  must  lie  north  of  the  Lippe, 
and  between  the  Ems  and  Weser.    The 
|  circumstance  that  the  place  was  hilly  is 
!  also  a  vague  clew  ;  that  it  was  marshy,  is 
'  of  less  help,  as  ground  which  was  marshy 
then  maybe  dry  now.    Many  gold,  silver, 
and  copper  horn  an  coins,  of  the  time  of 
Augustus,  have  been  found  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of   Venne,   a    marshy  district 
some  miles  north  of  Osnabrtick;   while 
I  almost    no  coins    of   a  later  date   have 
occurred.    Hence  the  view  of  Mommsen, 
who  holds  this  to  be  the  scene  of  the 
disaster,    is    very  plausible.     The   hills 
which  played  a  part  in  the  episode  would 
then  be  the  Wiehengebirge. 

As  to  the  year  of  the  battle,  there  is  no 
doubt  that  it  was  9  A.D.,  not  10  A.D.  (as 
Brandes  argued)  and  it  probably  took 
place  in  the  extreme  end  of  summer. 


Coin  of  Drusus. 


Ancient  Rome. 

CHAPTEK  X. 

ROME   UNDER   AUGUSTUS.      HIS   BUILDINGS. 

§  1.  The  Augustan  age  a  new  epoch  for  Rome.  §  2.  The  Forum.  §  3. 
The  Forum  Caesaris  and  Forum  Augusti.  Temples  of  Venus  and 
Mars.  §  4.  Campus  Martius.  Pantheon,  Mausoleum,  &c.  §  5.  The 
Capitolium.  §  6.  The  Palatine.  Palace  of  Augustus  and  Temple  of 
Apollo.  The  Aventine. 

§  1.  THE  Augustan  age  marks  a  new  period  in  the  history  of  the 
city  of  Eome.  Augustus  boasted  that  he  found  it  a  city  of  brick 
and  left  it  a  city  of  marble.  For  the  change  consisted  not  only  in 
the  large  number  of  new  buildings  which  were  erected  under  his 
auspices,  but  in  the  material  which  was  used.  The  white  marble 
quarries  of  Luna  had  been  recently  discovered  and  this  rich  stone 
was  employed  in  many  of  the  public  edifices  ;  while  the  aristocrats, 
stimulated  by  the  example  of  the  Emperor,  used  bright  travertine  to 
adorn  the  f^ades  of  their  private  houses.  The  most  striking 
change  that  took  place  in  the  appearance  of  the  city  during  the 
reign  of  Augustus  was  the  transformation  of  the  Forum,  and  the 
opening  up  of  the  adjacent  quarters.  In  this,  as  in  so  much  else, 
Julius  Caesar  had  suggested  innovations,  which  he  did  not  live  to 
carry  out  himself. 

§  2.  The  Roman  Forum  extends  from  the  foot  of  the  Capitol  to 
the  north-west  corner  of  the  Palatine.  Adjoining  it  on  the  north 
side,  but  separated  from  it  by  the  rostrum,  was  the  Comitium,  a 
small  enclosed  space  in  which  the  Curia  stood.  The  first  step  to 


142  BOME   UNDEB  AUGUSTUS.  CHAP.  x. 

the  transformation  of  the  Forum,  was  the  removal  of  the  rostrum 
(42  B.C.),  so  that  the  Forum  and  Comitium  formed  one  place.  The 
Curia  had  been  burnt  down  ten  years  before,  and  Caesar  began  tKe 
building  of  a  new  one,  which  was  finished  by  Augustus  and 
dedicated  under  the  name  of  Curia  Julia.*  But  this  was  only  the 
beginning  of  the  new  splendour  that  was  to  come  upon  the  great 
centre  of  Roman  life.  A  sliort  desciiption  of  the  chief  buildings 
which  adorned  it  at  the  death  of  Augustus  will  show  how  much  it 
was  changed  under  the  auspices  of  the  first  Princeps. 

At  the  north-west  corner,  close  under  the  Capitoline,  where  the 
ascent  to  the  Arx  begin*,  stood  the  Temple  of  Concord,  rebuilt  by 
Tiberius  in  10  A.D.  and  dedicated  in  the  name  of  himself  and  his 
dead  brother  Drusus,  as  asdes  Concordias  Augustas.  Owing  to  the 
nature  of  the  ground  this  temple  had  a  peculiar  cramped  shape,  the 
pronaos  being  only  half  as  broad  as  the  cella.  Adjacent  on  the 
south  side  was  tl>e  Temple  of  Saturn,  between  the  Clivus  Capitoli- 
nns  and  the  Vicus  Jugarius.  It  was  built  anew  in  42  B.C.  by  the 
munificence  of  Munatius  Planous.  The  eight  Ionic  pillars  which 
still  mark  the  spot  where  it  stood  date  from  a  later  period.  This 
temple  served  as  the  state  treasury,  which  was  therefore  called  the 
asrarium  Saturni. 

Between  the  Vicus  Jugarius  and  the  Vicus  Tuscus,  occupying  the 
greater  part  of  the  south  side  of  the  Forum,  stood  the  Basilica 
Julia,  which,  like  the  Curia,  the  elder  Caesar  had  left  to  Ids  son  to 
finish.  Begun  in  54  B.C.,  it  was  dedicated  in  46  ;  but  after  its  com- 
pletion, some  years  later,  it  was  burnt  down.  Then  it  arose  as;am 
on  a  larger  and  more  splendid  scale,  and  was  finally  dedicated  by 
Augustus  a  few  ni'-nths  before  his  death,  in  the  name  of  his 
unfortunate  grandsons  Gains  and  Lucius  Caesar.  East  of  the 
Basilica,  on  the  other  side  of  the  Vicus  Tuscus,  was  situated  the 
Temple  of  Castor,  of  which  three  Corinthian  columns  and  a 
splendid  Greek  entablature  still  stand.  Founded  originally  in 
memory  of  the  help  which  the  great  twin  brethren  were  said 
to  have  given  to  the  Romans  at  Lake  Regillus  it  was  renewed 
for  the  second  time  by  Tiberius,  under  the  auspices  of  Augustus, 
and,  like  the  Temple  of  Concord,  dedicated  in  the  name  of  the 
two  sons  of  Li  via. 

The  Temple  of  the  divine  Julius,  built  on  the  spot  where  his 
body  had  been  burned  by  the  piety  of  his  son,  stood  at  the  eastern 
end  of  the  Forum,  facing  the  new  rostra  which  had  been  erected  at 
the  western  side  in  front  of  the  Temple  of  Concord.  Behind  the 
JiMes  Pivi  Julii  and  on  the  north  side  of  the  venerable  round  Temple 
of  Vesta,  was  the  Regia,  a  foundation  of  high  antiquity,  ascribed 
*  The  Curia  is  DOW  San  Aflrff*10- 


27  B.C.-14  A.D.  THE  FORUM.  143 

to  Numa,  and  used  under  the  Republic  as  the  office  of  the  Pontifex 
Maxim  us.  It  had  been  o;ten  destroyed  by  fire,  and  in  36  B.C.  it 
was  rebuilt  in  splendid  style  by  Cn.  Domitius  Calvinus,  and  there 
Lepidus  transacted  the  duties  of  his  pontifical  office.  But  when 
Augustus  himself  became  chitf  pontiff  (12  B.C.),  he  n-si.-ned  the 
Reg'a  to  the  use  <-f  the  vestal  virgins.  On  the  north  side,  east  of 
the  Cuiin,  stood  a  building  originally  design«d  in  179  B.C.  by  the 
cen-ors  Fulvius  and  JSmilius,  but  built  anew  by  L.  ^Einilius 
Paullus  in  54  B.C.  and  since  then  known  as  the  Basilica  Emilia. 
Burnt  down  forty  years  later,  it  was  rebuilt  by  Augustus,  with 
pillars  ot  Phrygian  marble.  The  Temple  of  Janus,  which  Augustus 
thrice  closed,  stood  somewhere — the  exact  position  is  uncertain — 
aear  the  point  whete  the  Ar-iletum  entered  the  Forum,  between 
the  Curia  and  the  Basilica  ^Emilia. 

§  3.  The  Argiletum,  a  stieet  famous  for  booksellers,  traversed 
the  populous  and  busy  region  north  of  the  B\)rum,  which  was 
densely  packed  with  houses  and  threaded  only  by  narrow 
streets,  C'aesar  formed  the  desi-n  of  op"iiing  up  this  crowded 
quarter  and  establishing  a  free  communication  on  this  side  between 
the  Forum  and  the  iireat  suburb  of  Rome,  the  Campus  Marti  us.  In 
order  to  effect  this  he  construct'  d  a  new  market-place:  and  it  was 
owing  probably  to  this  ^chenle  that  the  Curia  Julia,  whose  building 
began  about  the  .«ame  time  (54  B.C.),  was  built  nearer  to  the  Forum 
than  the  old  cuiia  The  Forum  Julium,  as  it  was  called,  lay 
north  of  the  Curia,  and,  like  it,  was  dedicated  (46  B.C.)  before 
completion,  and  finished  a'ter  Cse-ar's  dtath.  The  chie'  building 
which  adorned  it  was  the  Temple  of  V«  nus  Genet rix,  moth-  r  of  the 
Julian  race,  which  Osesar  had  vowed  at  the  battle  ol  Pharsalia. 

As  the  elder  Caesar  had  made  a  vow  at  Pharsnlia,  .-o  the  younger 
Caesar  made  a  vow  at  Philippi.  The  vow  was  to  Mars  Ultor,  and 
was  dul\  fulfilled.  The  house  of  Mars  the  Avenger  likewise  became 
the  centre  of  a  new  Forum.  This  temple,  dedicated  by  its  foundei 
on  the  first  of  his  own  month  in  2  B.C.,  served  as  the  resting-place 
of  the  standards  which  his  diplomacy  had  recovered  from  the 
Parthians.  The  Forum  Augnstum  adjoined  t1  at  of  C'sesar  on  the 
north-east  side.  It  was  rectan  ular  in  shape,  but  on  the  east  and 
west  sides  there  were  semi-circular  spaces  with  porticoes  in  which 
statues  of  Roman  generals  in  triumphal  robes  were  s< t  up.  It 
became  the  practice  that  in  this  Forum,  the  members  of  tl  e 
imperial  family  should  assume  the  to.ua  virilis;  and  when  victorious 
generals  were  honoured  by  statues  of  bronz?,  they  were  set  up  here. 
These  fora  of  the  first  Caesars,  father  and  son,  were  the  beginning 
of  a  rehabilitation  of  this  quarter  of  the  city,  wliich  was  resumed,  a 
century  later,  by  the  Emperors  Nerva  and  Trajan;  and  they 


144 


ROME    UNDER   AUGUSTUS. 


CHAP. 


established  an  easy  communication  between  the  Forum  and  the 
Field  of  Mars.  Hitherto  the  way  from  the  Campus  to  the  Forum 
had  been  round  by  the  west  and  south  sides  of  the  Capitoline, 
through  the  Porta  Carmen  tali s. 


Walls  of  the  Emperors  _______ 

1.  Theatrum  et  Porticus  Pompeii. 

2.  Pantheon. 

3.  Theatrum  Marcelli. 

4.  Templum  Veneris  et  Romae. 

5.  Templum  Pads. 

6.  Forum  Nervae. 

7.  Forum  Augusti. 

8.  Forum  Julium. 

9.  Forum  Trajani. 


Walls  of  Seruius — 

10.  Basilica  Julia. 

11.  Templum  Castorum. 

12.  Templum  Saturni. 

lil.  Templum  D.  Vespasiani. 

14.  Templum  Concordiae. 

15.  Basilica  ^Emilia. 

16.  Templum  Jovis  Capitoliui. 

17.  Arx. 


§  4.  The  Campus  Martius  itself,  whether  taken  in  the  wider  or 
the  narrower  sense,  put  on  a  new  aspect  under  the  auspices  of  the 
Caesars.  The  Campus  in  the  stricter  sense  was  bounded  on  the 


27  B.c.-H  A.D.  THE  PANTHEON.  145 

south  by  the  Circus  Plaminius  and  on  the  east  by  the  Via  Lata. 
It  was  the  great  rival  of  Caesar  who  set  the  example  of  building 
on  this  ground.  In  55  B.C.  Pompey  erected  his  "  Marble  Theatre." 
Caesar  began  the  construction  of  marble  Saspta — an  enclosure 
for  the  voting  of  the  centuries — which  was  finished  by  Agrippa. 
The  name  of  Agrippa  has  more  claim  to  be  associated  with  the 
Field  of  Mars  than  either  Caesar's  or  Pompey 's.  The  construction 
of  the  Pantheon,  which  is  preserved  to  the  present  day,  was  due 
to  his  enterprise.  This  edifice  is  of  circular  form  and  crowned 
with  a  dome,  which  was  originally  covered  with  tiles  of  gilt  bronze. 
The  dome  is  an  instance  "  of  the  extraordinarily  skilful  use  of 
concrete  by  the  Komans;  it  is  cast  in  one  solid  mass,  and  is  as 
free  from  lateral  thrust  as  if  it  were  cut  out  of  one  block  of 
stone.  Though  having  the  arch  form,  it  is  in  no  way  constructed 
on  the  principle  of  the  arch."  *  The  building  is  lighted  only 
from  the  top.  "The  interior  measures  132  feet  in  diameter,  as 
well  as  in  height.  The  walls  are  broken  by  seven  niches,  three 
semicircular,  and,  alternating  with  them,  three  rectangular,  wherein, 
at  a  later  period,  splendid  marble  columns  with  entablatures  were 
introduced.  Above  this  rises  an  attica  with  pilasters,  the  original 
portion  of  which  has  undoubtedly  been  changed,  since  we  know 
that  Diogenes'  Caryatides  once  rose  above  the  entablatures  of  the 
columns,  and  divided  the  apertures  of  the  great  niches.  Above  the 
attica  rises,  in  the  form  of  a  hemisphere,  the  enormous  dome,  whicht 
has  an  opening  in  the  top  twenty-six  feet  in  diameter,  through 
which  a  flood  of  light  pours  into  the  space  beneath.  Its  simple 
regularity,  the  beauty  of  its  parts,  the  magnificence  of  the  materials 
employed,  the  quiet  harmony  resulting  from  the  method  of  illumi- 
nation, give  to  the  interior  a  solemnly  sublime  character,  which 
has  hardly  been  impaired,  even  by  the  subsequent  somewhat 
inharmonious  alterations.  These  have  especially  affected  the  dome, 
the  beautiful  and  effectively  graded  panels  of  which  were  formerly 
richly  adorned  with  bronze  ornaments.  Only  the  splendid 
columns  of  yellow  marble  (giallo  antico),  with  white  marble 
capitals  and  bases,  and  the  marble  decorations  of  the  lower  walls, 
bear  witness  to  the  earlier  magnificence  of  the  building.  The 
porch  is  adorned  with  sixteen  Corinthian  columns."  f 

Agrippa  also  built  the  adjacent  bathfe  called  after  him,  Thermae 
Agrippse  (27  and  25  B.C.),  and  a  basilica,  which  he  dedicated  to 
Neptune  in  memory  of  his  naval  victories,  and  enclosed  with 
a  portico  which  from  the  pictures  adorning  it  was  called  the 
Portico  of  the  Argonauts.  Another  wealthy  noble  of  the  day, 

-    Middleton,    Remains    of    Ancient  I      f  Taken  from'  Lflbke's  History  of  An 
,  ii.  131.  I  (Bug.  Tr.). 

7 


146  BOMB  UNDER  AUGUSTUS.  CHAP,  x 

Statilius  Taurus,  constructed  the  first  stone  amphitheatre  in  Rome, 
and  its  site,  too,  was  somewhere  in  the  Fie  d  of  Mars.  The  first 
Princeps  himself  seemed  content  to  leave  the  adornment  of  the 
Campus  chiefly  to  the  munificence  of  his  lesser  fellow-citizens. 
But  much  further  north  than  all  the  buildings  which  have  been 
mentioned,  where  the  Campus  heroines  narrow  by  the  approach 
of  the  Via  Flamiuia  to  the  river,  he  built  a  great  mausoleum 
for  the  Julian  family,  a  round  structure  surmounted  by  a  statue 
of  himself. 

On  the  south  side  of  the  Flaminian  Circus,  in  the  Prata  Flarninia, 
a  region  which  might  be  included  in  the  Campus,  in  a  wMer 
sense  of  the  name,  Augustus  erected  the  Fort  cus  Octavias  in  the 
name  of  his  sister,  and  attached  to  it  a  library  ami  a  Collection  of 
works  of  art.  It  was  close  to  the  Tc.mplum  Herculis  Mnsarum 
built  by  Fulvius  Nobilior,  the  patron  of  the  poet  Ennius,  and 
renewed  under  Augustus,  and  surrounded  by  a  portico  which  was 
dedicated  as  the  Portions  Philippi,  in  honour  of  L.  Marcins  Philippus, 
the  step-father  of  the  Em|>eror.  Near  the  Portico  of  Octavia,  were 
the  Theatres  of  Balbus  and  Marcellus,  both  dedicated  in  the  same 
year  (11  B.C.).  The  first  was  one  of  those  works  which  the  rich 
men  of  the  day  executed  through  the  influence  and  example  of 
Augustus.  The  second  had  been  begun  by  Csesar,  but  was  finished 
by  Augustus  and  dedicated  in  the  name  of  his  nephew  Marcellus. 
The  Portions  Octavii  (close  to  the  Flaminian  Circus),  which  was 
dedicated  by  Cn.  Octavius  after  the  victory  over  Perseus,  was 
burnt  down  and  restored  un»ler  Augustus.  It  was  remarkable  as 
the  earliest  example  of  Corinthian  pillars  at  Rome. 

§  5.  From,  the  Forum  the  Clivus  Capitolinus,  passing  the  temple 
of  Saturn,  led  up  to  the  saddle  of  the  Mons  Capitolinus,  the  smallest 
of  all  the  mountains  of  Rome.  Thence  it  ascended  to  the  southern 
height,  called  specially  the  Ca|itolium,  the  ciradel  of  Servian  Rome, 
where  the  treaties  with  foreign  nations  were  kept  a»d  triumphal 
spoils  were  dedicated.  Another  path  led  up  to  the  northern  height, 
the  Arx,  which  underwent  little  change  under  the  Empire.  But  on 
the  southern  hill  it  was  otherwise;  there  new  buildings  arose  under 
the  auspices  of  Augustus.  The  highest  part  of  the  hill  was  occupied 
by  the  great  temple  of  Jupiter  Optimus  Mnximus,  in  which  the 
senate  used  to  meet  on  certain  solemn  occasions.  This  temple, 
burnt  down  in  83  B.C.,  had  been  rebuilt,  but  it  required  and 
received  costly  repairs  in  the  time  of  Augustus.  Ranged  around  it 
on  lower  ground  were  many  lesser  temples,  of  which  that  of  Jupiter 
Feretri us,  to  whom  Romulus  dedicated  his  spolia  opima,  and  that 
of  Fides  founded  by  Numa,  may  bf  ppeci ally  mentioned.  Augustus 
increased  their  number.  In  20  B.C.  he  dediicated  the  round  temple 


27  B.O.-H  A.D.  THE  PALATINE.  147 

of  Mars  Ultor,  and  in  22  B.C.  that  of  Jupiter  Tonans,  in  memory 
of  an  occasion,  during  his  Cantabrian  expedition,  on  which  he  had 
narrowly  escaped  death  by  lightning.  This  temple,  marvellous  for 
itz  splendour,  attracted  muliitudes  of  visitors  and  worshippers,  and 
its  position  at  the  point  where  ihe  Clivus  reached  the  Area 
Capitolina  might  suggest  that  Jupiter  Tonans  was  a  sort  of  gate- 
keeper for  the  greater  Jupiter  on  the  summit. 

§  6.  But  the  Palatine  Mount  was  the  centre  from  which  the  de- 
velopment of  Rome  went  our.  It  was  the  original  Rome,  the  Roma 
quadrata,  where  were  localised  the  legends  of  its  foundation. 
There  were  to  be  seen  the  Casa  Romuli,  the  Lupercal  where 
Homulus  and  Remus  were  fed  by  the  wolf,  the  cornel-tree,  and  the 
mundus,  receptacle  of  those  things  winch  at  the  foundation  of  the 
city  were  buried  to  ensure  its  prosperity.  Under  the  Republic,  the 
Palatine  was  the  quarter  where  the  great  nol»les  and  public  men 
lived.  Augustus  himself  was  born  there,  and  there  he  built  his 
house.  So  it  came  about  that  the  name  which  designated  the  city 
of  Rome  in  i'S  earliest  shape,  Palatium,  became  the  name  of  the 
private  residence  of  its  first  citizen.  The  palace  of  Augustus  was  a 
magnificent  building  in  the  new  and  costly  style  whicu  had  only 
recently  b^en  introduced  in  Rome.  Ovid,  standing  in  imagination 
by  the  temple  of  Jupiter  Stator,  where  the  Palatine  hill  slopes  down 
to  the  Via  Sacra,  could  see  the  splendid  iront  of  the  palace, 
"  worthy  of  a  god." 

Singula  dmn  miror,  video  fnlgentibus  armis 
Conspicuo.-  posies  tectaque  digna  deo.* 

The  other  great  building  by  which  Augustus  transformed  the 
appearance  of  the  Palatine  was  the  temple  of  Apollo,  begun  in 
36  B.C.  after  the  end  of  the  war  wiih  Sextus  Pom^eius,  and  dedi- 
cated eight  years  later.  It,  wa^  an  <  ight-pMared  peripteros,  built 
of  the  white  marble  of  Luna,  and  richly  adorned  with  works  of  art. 
The  chief  sight  was  the  colossus  of  bronze  representing  Augustus 
himself  under  the  form  of  Apollo.  Between  the  columns  stood  the 
statues  of  the  fifty  Danaids.  and  over  against  them  their  wooers,  the 
sons  of  ^Egyptus,  mounted  on  horseback.  Under  the  statu-'  of  the 
god  were  deposited  in  a  vault  the  Sibylline  Hooks.  In  the  porticoes 
were  two  libraries,  one  Latin  and  one  Greek. 

On  the  northern  slope  of  the  Palatine,  facing  the  Capitol,  stood 
the  temple  of  Augustus,  which  Tiberius  and  the  Empress  Livia 
erected  in  his  honour  alter  his  death. 

On  the  south  sid«  the  Palatine  looks  down  on  the  Circus 
Maximus,  which  was  restored  by  Augustus.  Opposite  rises  the 
Aventine,  a  hill  long  uninhab  ted  and  afterwards  chiefly  a  plebeian 

*  TrUtvi,  iiL  1.  63. 


148  BOMB  UNDER  AUGUSTUS.  CHAP.  x. 

quarter,  on  which  the  chief  shrine  was  the  temple  of  Diana,  whence 
the  hill  was  sometimes  called  oottis  Dianse.  This  temple  was 
rebuilt  by  L.  Cornificius  under  Augustus,  who  himself  restored 
the  sanctuaries  of  Minerva,  Juno  Regina,  and  Jupiter  Libertas  on 
the  same  hill.  Livy  was  hardly  guilty  of  exaggeration  when 
he  called  Augustus  "the  founder  and  restorer  of  all  the  temples" 
of  Rome.* 

§  7.  A  word  must  be  said  here  about  the  triumphal  arch  (arcus 
triumphalis)  which  was  a  characteristic  feature  in  the  external 
appearance  of  Rome  and  other  important  cities  of  the  Empire. 
Under  this  name  are  included  not  only  arches  erected  in  honour  of 
victories,  but  also  those  which  celebrate  other  public  achievements. 
A  triumphal  arch  was  built  across  a  street.  It  consisted  either  ot 
a  single  archway,  or  of  a  large  central  and  two  side  ones,  or  some- 
times of  two  of  the  same  height  side  by  side.  There  were  generally 
columns  against  the  piers,  supporting  an  entablature,  and  each 
fa9ade  was  ornamented  with  low  reliefs.  Above  all  rose  an  attica 
with  the  inscription,  and  upon  it  were  placed  the  trophies  in  case 
the  arch  commemorated  a  victory.  The  arch  of  Augustus  at 
Ariminum.  erected  in  memory  of  the  completion  of  the  Via 
Flamiixia,  and  his  arches  at  Augusta  Pretoria  and  Susa,  still  stand. 
The  general  appearance  of  the  arch  resembles  that  of  the  gate  of 
a  city,  and  it  seems  to  have  owed  its  origin  to  the  Triumphal  Gate 
through  which  a  victorious  general  led  his  army  into  Rome  to 
celebrate  his  triumph 

*hr.20. 


Head  of  Mjecenas. 


Tomb  of  Virgil. 

CHAPTER  XL 

LITERATURE  OF   THE   AUGUSTAN   AGE. 

§  1.  Augustan  literature.  Writings  of  Augustus.  Circles  of  Maecenas 
and  Messalla.  Asinms  Pollio.  §  2.  Virgil.  §  3.  JEmilius  Macer. 
Cornelius  Gallus.  §4.  Horace.  Valgius.  Melissus.  Domitius  Marsus. 
§  5.  Tibullus.  Propertius.  Ovid  ;  his  banishment.  Albinovanus 
Pedo.  §  6.  Gratius.  Manilius.  §  7.  Livy.  Pompeius  Trogus. 
§  8.  Hyginus.  Verrius  Flaccus.  Philosophy,  rhetoric  and  oratory. 
Jurists.  §  9.  Greek  writers.  Dionysius  of  Halicarnassus.  Longinus. 
Nicolaus  of  Damascus.  Strabo. 

SECT.  I.— LATIN  POETRY. 

§  1.  LATIN  literature  was  affected  seriously,  and  in  many  ways, 
by  the  fall  of  the  Republic  and  the  foundation  of  the  Empire.  The 
Augustan  age  itself  was  brilliant,  but  after  the  Augustan  age 
literature  rapidly  declined.  The  most  conspicuous  figures  in  the 
world  of  letters  under  Augustus  had  outlived  their  youth  under 
the  Republic ;  some  of  them  had  served  on  the  losing  side.  But 
these  soon  became  reconciled  to  the  new  order  of  things.  The 
Emperor  drew  men  to  himself  by  virtue  of  the  peace  and  security 
which  he  had  established  (cunctos  dulcedine  otii  pdlexit  *) ;  and 
it  was  his  special  object  to  patronise  men  of  literary  talent  and 
engage  their  services  for  the  support  of  his  policy.  His  efforts 
were  successful ;  he  won  not  only  flattery,  but  sympathy  for  the 
new  age  which  he  had  inaugurated ;  he  enlisted  in  his  cause,  not 
*  Tacitus,  Annals,  1.  2. 


150      LITERATURE  OP  THE  AUGUSTAN  AGE.      CHAP.  XL 

only  timeservers,  but  the  finest  spirits  of  the  day.  Although  the 
Augustan  literature  is  certainly  marked  by  a  vein  of  flattery  to 
the  court,  and  by  a  luck  of  republican  independence,  yet  we  cannot 
but  recognise  a  genuine  enthusiasm  for  the  new  age,  for  the  peace 
which  it  had  brought  after  the  long  civil  wars,  and  for  the  great- 
ness of  the  Roman  Empire.  And,  from  a  literary  point  of  view, 
the  Augustan  age  ranks  among  the  most  brilliant  in  the  history 
of  the  world;  below  the  Periclcan,  perhaps  below  the  Elizabethan, 
but  certainly  far  above  that  of  Louis  XIV.  It  is  true  that  the 
cessation  of  the  political  life  of  the  Republic  necessarily  meant  the 
decline  of  oratory  ;  it  is  true  that  historians  could  no  longer  treat 
contemporary  events  with  free  and  independent  criticism.  It  is 
true  likewise  that  the  severe  style  of  old  Latin  prose  begins  to 
degenerate,  and  that  poetry  lays  aside  its  popular  elements  and 
becomes  more  strictly  artificial.  In  fact  the  poetc  deprecate 
popularity  and  despise  the  public.  Horace's  cry  "OJi  prolanum 
vulgus  et  arceo"  is  characteristic  of  the  age.  But  for  literary 
excellence  and  for  the  perfection  of  art  the  best  of  the  Augustan 
writers  had  a  clear  judgment  and  a  delicate  taste.  The  tendencies 
of  the  new  age  inevitably  led  to  a  decline ;  but,  as  an  ample 
compensation,  we  have  Virgil,  Horace,  Tibullus,  Livy. 

AUGUSTUS,  as  we  have  s-aid,  concerned  himself  with  the  pro- 
motion of  literary  activity,  and  the  patronage  of  men  of  letters. 
"He  fostered  in  all  ways  the  talents  of  his  age."*  He  founded 
two  libraries,  one  in  the  portico  of  Octavia,  the  other  at  the  temple 
of  Apollo  011  the  Palatine.  He  was  an  author  hims>  If  both  in  prose 
and  verse.  He  wrote  "  Exhortations  to  Philosophy  ; "  and  a  poem 
in  hexameters,  entitled  "  Sicilia."  The  Monumentum  Ancyranum 
and  the  Breviarium  totius  imperil  have  been  mrntioned  else- 
where.f 

The  two  chief  ministers  of  Augustus  were  authors  likewise 
AGEIPPA  wrote  memoirs  of  his  own  life,  and  edited  an  Atlas  of  the 
world.  M.ECENA8  composed  occasional  poems  of  a  li'j;ht  nature, 
and  also  wrote  some  prose  works.  But  he  is  more  famous  as  a 
patron  of  poets  than  as  a  poet  himself.  H'S  literary  circle  included 
Horace,  Virgil,  Varius,  Tucca,  Dora i tins  Marsus,  besides  many  lesser 
names.  The  orator  M.  VALERIUS  MESSALLA  (64  B.C.-9  A.D.),  also 
drew  round  him  a  group"  of  men  of  letters,  among  whom  the 
most  distinguished  were  the  poets  Tibullus,  Valgius  Rufus, 
JSmilius  Macer,  and  perhaps  Ovid.  This  circle  seems  to  have 
held  quite  aloof  from  politics.  MessalU's  own  literary  work 
chiefly  consisted  in  translations  from  the  Greek,  both  prose  and 
verse. 
*  Suetonius,  Auguttut  |  f  See  above,  Chap.  IX.  $  14. 


CHAP.  XL  VIKGIL.  151 

0.  ASINIOS  POLLIO  (75  B.C.-5  A. P.)  held  a  unique  position.  Having 
been  on  the  side  of  Antonius,  he  withdrew  a  ter  Actium  from 
political  life,  and  holding  himself  aloof  from  tl;e  court,  devoted 
Limsclf  to  literature,  with  a  ceitain  independence  and  peihaps 
antaiionibm  to  the  spirit  of  the  age.  He  was  very  learned  ami 
c,  very  severe  critic.  He  wrote  tragedies,  w!  ich  are  p.aised  by 
Virr'l;*  and  a  history  of  the  civil  wars  (FJistoriie)  reaching 
fum  60  to  about  42  B.c.f  He  was  a  friend  of  both  Virgil  and 
IIori.ce. 

S  2.  PUBLICS  VERGILLIUS  t  MARO  was  born  in  70  B.C.  at  Andes, 
near  Mantua.  His  rustic  features  bore  tes  imcny  to  his  humble 
origin  :  his  father  was  an  'artisan.  He  went  to  school  at  Cremona  ; 
afterwards  he  studied  at  Med  olanum,  and  finally  at  Rome,  where 
Octavius,  afterwards  to  be  Caesar  and  Augustus,  was  his  fellow- 
studeut  in  rhetoric.  He  studied  philosophy  under  ti  e  Epicurean 
Siro.  After  his  return  home,  he  and  his  family  experienced  the 
calamities  of  the  civil  war.  Octivms  Musa,  v\h«»  was  appointed 
to  carry  out  the  distribution  of  land  to  veteran  soldiers  in  the 
district  of  Cremona,  transgressed  the  limits  of  that  district  and 
encroached  §  upon  the  neighbouring  territory  of  M-ntua  (41  B.C.). 
Virgil's  father  was  among  the  sufferers;  but  Asinius  Pollio,  who 
was  then  legatus  in  Gallia  Transpada.ua,  and  the  poet  Cornelius 
G-allus,  interested  themselves  in  his  beh;df.  At  their  sug  estion, 
Virgil  betook  himself  to  Rome,  and  obta'ned  from  Csesar  the 
restitution  ot  his  father's  farm.  The  first  Eclogue  is  an  expression 
of  gratitude  to  Caesar  for  this  protection :  deus  nobis  hcec  oti<* 
fecit.  But  Virgil  and  his  father  were  not  permitted  to  remain 
long  in  po.-sessiou  of  their  recovered  homestead.  The  same 
injustice  was  repeated  a  year  or  two  later,  and  the  poet  was  even 
in  danger  of  his  life.  A^ain  he  went  to  R"ine,  and  the  influence 
of  Maecenas,  to  whom  he  had  probably  become  known  by  the 
publication  of  some  of  his  Bucolics,  secured  him,  not  restitution 
but  compensation,  perhaps  by  a  farm  in  Campania,  where  he  spent 
much  of  his  later  life. 

Virgil's  first  work,  the  Bucolics,  consisting  of  ten  "eclogse,"  or 
idylls,  was  composed  in  the  years  41-39  B.C.  Inspired  by 
Theocritus,  they  are  written  in  the  same  metre,  and  are  in  great 
part  imitations  from  his  idylls.  But  most  of  them  contain 
references  to  contemporary  persons  and  events,  especially  to  the 
hardships  in  Transpadane  Haul  from  which  Virgil  himself 

*  Eclogue   viii.    10:    Sophocleo   digna  the  familiar  Fnglish  ai-breviation  of  the 

cothurno.  I  name  from  Virgil  to  Vergil. 

f  See  Horace,  Odes,  ii.  1.  $  Hence  the  line,  Mantua  vae  miser* 

t  Thi*  is  the  true  spelling  of  the  port's  niniium  vicina Cremonae,  Eel.  is..  28. 
>;  but  it  is  quite  needle.-*  to  alter 


152       LITERATURE  OF  THE  AUGUSTAN  AGE.     CHAP.  XL 


had  suffered  so  sorely.  Caesar,  Cornelius  Gallus,  Alfenus  Varus 
(the  successor  of  Pollio  as  legatus),  and  above  all,  Pollio  himself, 
have  their  places  in  the  woods  of  Tityrus.  The  fourth  Eclogue, 
written  for  the  year  of  Pollio's  consulship  (40  B.C.),  treats  a  theme 
which  hardly  belongs  to  bucolic  poetry.  Virgil  feels  that  he  has 
to  make  his  woods  "  worthy  of  a  consul." 

Si  canimus  silvas,  silvas  sint  consule  dignte. 

He  salutes  the  ret  irn  of  the  "  Saturnian  kingdoms"  and  the 
golden  age.*  The  salutation  was  premature  by  ten  years;  and 
when  peace  at  length  came  to  the  Roman  world,  Pollio,  instead 
of  being  its  inaugurator,  was  rather  an  opponent.  But  it  is 
interesting  to  observe,  that  the  idea  of  some  great  change  for  the 
better  was  in  the  air. 

The  Bucolics  were  written  in  the  north  of  Italy  (not  yet  "  Italy  " 
at  that  time);  his  next  work  was  written  in  the  south,  chiefly  at 
Naples.  It  was  Msecenas  who  suggested  the  subject  of  the 
(leorgics,  a  didactic  poem  in  hexameters,  dealing  with  the  various 
parts  of  a  farmer's  work.  The  first  Book  treats  of  agriculture,  the 
second  of  the  plantation  of  trees,  the  third  of  the  care  of  livestock, 
the  fourth  of  bees.  No  subject  was  more  congenial  to  Virgil's 
Muse — his  "rustic  Muse,"  as  he  says  himself;  and  from  some 
points  of  view  the  Georgics  may  be  regarded  as  his  masterpiece. 
He  has  here  achieved  a  task,  which  is  the  hardest  that  a  poet 
can  undertake,  to  write  true  poetry  in  a  didactic  form.  Rare 
artistic  instinct  and  genuine  love  of  his  subject  were  happily  joined 
to  produce  this  unique  poem,  in  which  Virgil  seems  to  be  more  truly 
himself  than  either  in  the  Bucolics  or  the  Aeneid.  The  composi- 
tion and  revision  of  this  work  occupied  the  years  from  37  to  30  B.C. 
when  it  was  read  aloud  to  Caesar  on  his  return  from  Actium.  It 
is  interesting  to  note  that  the  latter  part  of  the  fourth  Book  was 
originally  devoted  to  the  praises  of  the  poet's  friend  Cornelius 
Gallus,  but  that  after  his  execution  (27  B.c.)f  this  passage  was 
cut  out  by  the  wish  of  the  Emperor  and  replaced  by  the  story  of 
Orpheus. 

In  the  Georgics,  Virgil  promises  that  he  will  soon  gird  himself 
to  a  greater  task,  and  sing  the  deeds  of  Csesar.  J  But  his  poem  took 
the  form  of  an  epic,  in  which,  not  Csesar,  but  ^Eneas,  the  founder 
of  the  Julian  gens,  was  the  hero.  The  work  was  begun  about 


*  Toto  surget  gen**  aurea  mundo  (1.  9). 

f  See  above,  Chap.  VII.  $  8. 

j  Bk.  iii.  46.  Propertius,  writing  in 
26  or  25  B.C.  heralds  the  coming  of  the 
-Eneid  thus  (iii.  34.  65)  : 

Cedite  Roman!  scriptoree,  cedite  Grail; 


Nescio  qnid  maius  nascitnr  Iliade. 

Other  lilies  in  this  context  suggest  that 
Virgil  may  have  intended  to  celebrate  the 
victory  of  Actium  after  the  completion  of 


OHAP.  xi.  THE  GEQRGICS  AND  ^BNEID.  153 

29  B.C.,  and  occupied  the  remaining  ten  years  of  the  poet's  life.  He 
died  at  Brundusium  in  19  B.C.,  leaving  the  Mneid.  unfinished.  His 
wishes  were  that  the  manuscript  should  be  burnt,  but  Augustus, 
that  such  a  great  work  should  not  perish,  committed  its  publication 
to  Varius  and  Tucca,  friends  of  Virgil,  on  the  condition  that  they 
should  make  no  alterations.  Though  Augustus  was  not  the  hero, 
there  were  opportunities,  in  a  poem  doaling  with  the  origin  of  "  the 
Latin  race  and  the  Alban  fathers  and  the  walls  of  lofty  Rome,"  * 
to  look  forward  over  the  ages  of  Roman  history  and  celebrate  the 
glories  of  him  who  was  to  "  found  a  golden  age.f  The  JSneid  has 
suffered  from  the  premature  death  of  its  creator ;  it  was  neither 
finished  nor  revised.  Yet  it  would  hardly  be  an  injustice  to  Virgil 
to  say  that  its  excellence  and  charm  lie  in  particular  episodes,  in 
delicate  and  subtle  details  of  language  and  rhythm,  and  not  in  the 
poem  regarded  as  a  whole.  But  it  must  always  stand  beside  the 
[Had  and  Odyssey,  as  the  third  great  epic  of  antiquity.  The 
Roman  dignity  and  magnitude  of  the  subject,  and  the  wonderful 
power  of  the  narratives  in  the  second,  fourth,  and  sixth  Books, 
have  exalted  the  ^Eneid  far  above  the  Georgics  in  the  estimation  of 
posterity ;  yet  it  might  be  argued  that  Virgil  had  more  in  common 
with  Wordsworth  than  with  Milton  or  with  his  worshipper  Dante. 
The  note  of  Virgil  is  "  natural  piety ; "  perhaps  he  cannot  be 
described  better  than  by  the  happy  expression  which  his  friend 
Horace  applied  to  him,  anima  Candida. 

Virgil  was  buried  close  to  Naples  on  the  road  to  Puteoli,  and 
the  inscription  on  his  tomb,  said  to  have  been  dictated  by  himself 
before  his  death,  ran  thus : 

Mantua  me  genuit,  Calabri  rapuere,  tenet  nunc 
Parthenope  ;  cecini  pascua,  rura,  duces. 

§  3.  In  connection  with  Virgil,  it  is  natural  to  mention  his  elder 
contemporary  and  friend,  L.  VARIUS  RUFUS  (B.C.  74-14),  celebrated 
for  his  epics  on  Csesar  and  Octavian,J  and  more  celebrated  for  his 
tragedy  the  Thyesfes.  Another  poet  of  about  the  same  age  was 
^EMILIUS  MACER  of  Verona,  also  a  friend  of  Virgil,  and  disguised 
in  the  Bucolics  under  the  name  of  Mopsus.  He  wrote  poems  OD 
natural  history  (Ornithogonia  and  Theriaca),  but  they  have  been 
less  lucky  than  his  models,  the  Greek  poems  of  Nicander,  which 
survive  to  the  present  day.  The  unfortunate  CORNELIUS  UALLUS 
(69  B.C.-27)  must  also  be  mentioned  here,  though  his  name  has  its 
place  rather  hi  the  age  of  Catullus  and  Cinna.  It  was  he  who 
transplanted  the  erotic  elegy  of  the  Alexandrine  Greeks  to  Roman 

*  ^Eneid,  i.  6.  J  He  was  expected  to  write  a  glorlfl- 

t  JSnefd,  vi.  791.  |   cation  of  Agrippa:  Hor.,  Odet,  i.  6. 

7* 


154       LITERATURE  OF  THE  AUGUSTAN  AGE.     CHAP.  xt 


soil,  and  founded  "  the  school  of  Euphorion,"  to  which  Catullus  and 
Cinna  belonged.  He  translated  Euphorion  into  Latin;  and  vroto 
tour  Books  of  original  elegies  on  his  own  mistress  Cytheris  under 
the  name  of  Lycoris.  His  death  has  been  alivady  noticed. :: 

§  4.  The  great  lyric,  like  the  great  epic,  poet  of  Rome  was  of 
humble  birth.  Q.  HORATIUS  FLACCUS  was  the  son  of  a  frccdman. 
and  was  born  at  Venu>ia,  on  the  borders  of  Apulia  and  LucaninyJ*  in 
65  B.C.  After  the  death  of  Julius  Caesar  (44  B.C.)  he  joined  the  cause 
of  Brutus  and  served  under  him  in  Asia  and  Macedonia,  until'  o 
Battle  of  Philippi  (42  B.C.).  On  that  occasion  ho  took  pr*,w ."  '.  i\e 
general  flight,  as  he  tells  us  himself  |  and  afterwards  rctuir'n/;  to 
Rome,  obtained  a  post  ns  a  qusesior's  secretary.  During  t'ie  i.jxt 
ten  years  he  wrote  hisSttires  and  Epodes,  v/hich  brought  hinfame, 
and  secured  him  the  friendship  of  Virgil  and  Yariuc,  vlio  introduced 
him  to  Maecenas.  In  37  B.C.  we  find  him  accompanying  I.'secenas 
on  the  journey  to  Brundusium,  of  v/h'ch  he  Las  left  us  r.  pleasant 
descnption.§  The  intimacy  with  Maecenas  ripened;  the  Epicurean 
views  of  life  which  both  held  were  a  Injnd  between  the  poet  and  his 
patron.  Horace  had  a  taste  for  country  liie,  and  in  33  B.C.  Maecenas 
bestowed  upon  him  a  farm  in  the  Sabine  territory,  which  he  preferred 
to  "royal  Rome."  Independence  was  one  of  the  chief  character- 
istics of  Horace,  and  he  felt  more  independent  in  the  country  than 
in  the  immediate  neighbourhood  of  the  court. 

The  first  Book  of  the  Satires  appeared  about  35  B.C.  :  the  second 
Book  about  five  years  later.  In  this  style  of  composition  the 
predecessor  of  Horace  was  Lucilius;  [  but  while  LucLLus  cri'icised 
persons  and  politics  freely,  Horace  prudently  confined  himself  to 
generalities  on  society  and  liierature,  owing  to  the  altered  circum- 
stances of  the  time.  Lucilius  had  imitated  the  Greek  writers  of  Old 
Comedy,  such  as  Cratinus  and  Aristophanes ;  «nd  Horace  stood  in 
somewhat  the  same  relation  to  his  predecessor  as  the  New  Comedy 
•  stood  to  the  Old.  From  the-e  "  Talks"  (s<-rmones,  as  Horace  calls 
them  himself^),  written,  like  those  of  Luciliu*,  in  hexameter  verse 
and  in  coll  quial  style,  we  learn  much  abouc  the  personality  of 
Horace  and  about  his  friends.  In  the  Epodes,  which  were  published 


*  Another  poetic  friend  of  Virgil  is 
mentioned  in  the  Bucolics  under  the  name 
(perhaps  fictitious)  of  Coilrus:  Proxima 
Phoebi  versibus  ille  faci.  (vii.  22). 

f  Satires,  ii.  1.  34:  "  Lucanns  an 
Appulus  anceps."  He  has  given  an 
account  of  liis  early  life  in  Sat.,  i.  6. 

%  Odes,  ii.  7. 

$  Satire*,  \.  5. 

||  Horace  discusses  Lnciltus  and  his 
relation  to  Greek  comedy  in  Sat.,  i.  4  (cp. 


Sat.,  i.  10).  In  1.  56  he  states  that  Lucilius 
was  his  own  predecessor  (his  ego  quae 
uu-  c,  olim  qu;e  s.  ripsit  Lucilius). 

^[  Epistlts,  i.  4.  1 :  Albi,  nostrum  ser- 
monum  candid'-  iudex.  And  this  is  the 
title  given  in  he  Manuscripts.  But  Horace 
also  called  his  f|  ir-tles  sermoi'i-s,  so  that 
sa'iie  is  a  very  co  venient  name  for  the 
sake  of  distinction.  Sermo  indicates  the 
colloquial  style. 


CHAP.  xi. 


HOKACE. 


155 


about  the  same  time  as  the  second  Book  of  the  Satires,  Horace 
imitated  Archilochus  and  attacked  persons  in  coarse  language.  All 
these  poems  (except  the  last)  are  written  in  couplets  consisting  of 
a  longer  and  a  shorter  line,  generally  an  iambic  trimeter  followed 
by  nn  iambic  d^neter.  They  are  the  least  interesting  w<>rk  of 
Horace,  but  they  were  a  good  exercise  in  handling  metres  ant) 
in  the  imitation  of  Greek  m«'d*ls,  and  they  led  to  the  Odes.* 

The  greatest  "mon  ment 'f  of  poetry  th-at  Horace  has  bequeathed 
to  posterity  is  the  collection  of  lyrical  poems  in  'our  Books  known  us 
the  Odes.  The  first  three  Books  v\  ere  published  in  24  B.C.,  the  fourth 
eleven  years  later.  In  lyric  composition  he  does  n<-t  claim  originality, 
he  only  "adapted  ^Eolian  song  to  Italian  measures;"  but  he  claims 
priority;  he  was  the  first  (except  Catullus)  to  make  the  attempt  : — 

Princeps  JEolium  carmen  ad  Italos 
Deduxisse  modos. 

For  this  he  b'ds  the  Muse  crown  him  with  Delphic  laurel.  But 
though  the  Greek  lyric  poets,  especially  Sappho  and  Alcseus,  were 
his  models,  it  was  an  original  idea  on  the  part  of  Horace  to  turn 
away  from  the  A  lexandrine  poets  who  were  then  in  v«  gue,  and  go 
back  to  the  older  singers.  It  required  true  genius  and  wonderful 
artistic  instinct  to  tune  the  borrov\ed  l\re  to  the  accents  of  another 
tongue.  Horace  was  supremely  successful.  In  the  Odes  his  poetic 
judgment  is,  with  few  exceptions,  laultless  ;  the  happiest  word 
comes  almost  inevitably  ;  his  felicity  (curiosa  felicitas)  was  praised 
by  Roman  critics.  Some  of  these  poems  are  probably  tree  trans- 
lations from  the  Gnek,  but  many  refer  to  contemporary  people  and 
events,  some  deal  with  Homau  history,  and  the  vic'ories  won  under 
the  auspices  of  Augustus.  The  fourth  Book  of  the  Odes  is  said  to 
have  been  published  at  the  instance  of  the  Emperor. 

But  in  the  interval  between  his  earlier  and  later  lyre  works, 
Horace  wrote  Epistles.  The  first  Pook  appeared  about  20  B.C. 
After  the  strict  technical  constraints  to  which  he  had  subjected 
himself  in  the  Odes,  it  was  a  relaxation  for  the  poet  to  expand  him- 
self in  the  easy  and  fami'iar  st)le  of  the  Sermones.  But  the 
urbane  kpistfes,  though  written  in  tie  same  colloquial  language,  are 
very  different  from  the  Satires  ;  they  are  more /nature,  less  polemical, 
and  they  have  a  charm  of  serenity  which  is  wanting  in  the  earlier 
work.  It  might  be  said,  that  if  the  genius  of  Virgil  found  its  truest 
expression  in  the  Georuics,  so  that  of  Horace  was  best  expressed  in 
his  Epistles;  and  in  this  form  of  composition  he  has  never  been 


*  Horace  hims  If  does  not  use  either 
epode  or  ode.  The  epodes  he  calls  iambi, 
the  odes  carmina. 


t  Monuraentum  are  perennlus,  Oda, 
ill.  30.  1. 


156       LITERATURE  OF  THE  AUGUSTAN  AGE.     CHAP.  XL 

equalled  The  second  Book  of  the  Kpistles,  written  in  the  later  years 
of  his  life,  includes  a  Treatise  on  Poetry,  the  Ars  Poetica,  in  the 
form  of  a  letter  to  his  friends  the  Pisos. 

Horace  died  in  8  B.C.,  surviving  by  a  few  months  his  benefactor 
Maecenas,  beside  whom  he  was  buried.  Though  he  had  at  first 
stood  aloof,  he  became  reconciled,  as  time  went  on,  to  the  Empire, 
was  on  good  terms  with  Augustus,  and  did  what  was  required  of 
him  as  an  Augustan  poet.  And  independent  though  Horace  was, 
he  had  a  decided  weakness  for  friendships  with  great  people.  The 
influence  of  Maecenas  probably  did  much  to  stimulate  his  poetic 
activity ;  for  Horace  was  by  no  means  one  of  those  who  cannot  help 
singing.  He  was  not  "  inspired ; "  his  poetry  is  marked  by  lucidity 
and  judgment. 

Many  poets,  whose  works  have  not  survived,  but  famous  in  their 
own  day,  are  mentioned  by  Horace.  His  friend  V  ALGIUS,  who  wrote 
Epigrams  and  Elegies,  was  actually  compared  to  Homer.*  ABISTIUS 
Foscus  and  FUNDANIUS  composed  dramas,  PUPIUS  doleful  tragedies. 
Here  may  be  mentioned  also  C.  MELISSOS,  who  wrote  a  jest-book, 
and  originated  the  fabula  trabeata  ;  and  DOMITIUS  MABSUS,  famous 
chiefly  for  his  Epigrams,  f  in  which  field  he  was  the  predecessor 
and  master  of  Martial. 

§  5.  Of  the  elegiac  poets  of  this  period  whose  works  have  come 
down  to  us,  the  most  charming  is  ALBIUS  TIBULLUS  (54-19  B.C.). 
Adopting  the  form  of  Alexandrine  elegN-,  he  breathed  into  it  a  fresh 
spirit  of  Italian  country  life.  In  his  love  poems  to  Delia,J  whose  true 
name  was  Plania,  there  is  a  certain  tender  melancholy  which  we  do 
not  find  in  the  rest  of  classical  literature.  By  his  deft  handling  of 
the  pentameter  he  made  an  important  technical  advance  in  the 
development  of  Latin  Elegy.  Along  with  his  works  and  under  his 
name  were  published  after  his  death  some  poems,  which  were  not 
by  him,  but  by  a  certain  Lygdamus  (perhaps  a  fictitious  name). 
Also  included  in  the  collection  of  his  elegies  are  some  which  were 
written  by  STJLPICIA,  the  niece  of  his  patron  Messalla. 

The  Umbrian  poet  SEXTUS  PROPERTIUS  (probably  born  at  Asisium, 
about  49-15  B.C.)  did  not  emancipate  himself  like  Tibullus 
from  the  influence  of  his  Alexandrine  models,  Callimachus  and 
Philetas.  On  the  contrary  he  prides  himself  on  his  Alexandrinism, 
and  calls  himselt  the  Roman  Callimachus.  He  was  very  learned, 
and  his  elegies  are  full  of  obscure  references  to  out  of  the  way 
myths.  Nevertheless  no  works  of  the  age  are  so  thoroughly 
impressed  with  the  individuality  of  the  writer  as  the  passionate 
j>oenis  of  Propertius.  The  passion  which  inspired  his  song,  was  his 

*  By  Tibullus  (iv.  1 . 179),  eeterno  propior  I      f  1  he  title  of  his  book  was  Cfcuta. 
non  alter  Homero.  |      J  fir/Acs  =  planus. 


CHAP,  xi         TIBULLUS.      PROPERTIUS.      OVID.  157 

love  for  Hostia,  a  beautiful  and  accomplished  courtezan,  whom  he 
disguised  under  the  name  of  Cynthia,  as  Catullus  had  disguised 
Clodia  under  Lesbia,  and  Tibullus  Plania  under  Delia.  His  first 
Book  of  Elegies  brought  him  fame,  and  probably  secured1  him  an 
admission  into  the  circle  of  Maecenas.  The  imagination  of  Pro- 
pertius  was  eccentric,  his  nature  melancholic.  He  looked  at  things 
on  their  gloomy  side,  and  perhaps  his  special  charm  is  his  skil- 
fulness  in  suggesting  vague  possibilities  of  pain  or  terror.  He  loved 
the  vague,  both  in  thought  and  in  expression;  in  his  metaphors,  the 
image  and  the  thing  imaged  often  pass  into  each  other,  and  the 
meaning  becomes  indistinct.  He  seems  to  have  been  a  man  of 
weak  will,  and  this  is  reflected  in  his  poetry.  It  has  been  noticed 
by  those  who  have  studied  Ids  language,  that  he  prefers  to  express 
feelings  as  possible  rather  than  as  real ;  Ms  thoughts  naturally  ran 
in  the  potential  mood.  His  connection  with  Cynthia  lasted  for 
about  five  years,  and  after  it  was  broken  off,  Propertius  wrote  little. 
It  was  Cynthia  who  had  made  him  a  poet.* 

The  third  of  the  great  Roman  elegiac  poets,  P.  OVIDIUS  NASO,  of 
equestrian  family,  was  born  at  Sulmo  in  the  Pselignian  territory, 
43  B.C.  Trained  in  rhetoric  and  law,  he  entered  upon  an  official 
career  and  by  the  favour  of  Augustus  received  the  latus  davus,  and 
held  some  of  the  lower  equestrian  posts,  such  as  vigintivir  and 
decemvir.  But  he  gave  his  profession  up  for  the  sake  of  poetry. 
He  has  said  himself,  in  a  verse  which  probably  suggested  a  familiar 
line  of  Pope,  that  verse-writing  came  to  him  by  nature: 

Quidquid  tcntabam  dicere  versus  era*. 

He  is  the  only  one  of  the  great  Augustan  poets  whose  literary 
career  belongs  entirely  to  the  Augustan  age.  His  works  may  be 
classified  in  three  periods.  (1)  The  extant  works  of  the  early 
period  are  all  on  amatory  subjects  and  in  elegiac  verse.  The 
Amoves,  in  three  Books,  celebrate  Corinna.  The  Ars  Amatoria, 
likewise  in  three  Books,  gives  advice  to  lovers  of  both  sexes 
as  to  the  conducting  of  their  love  affairs,  while  the  Remedia 
Amoris  prescribes  cures  for  a  troublesome  passion.f  But  the  best 
work  of  this  period  is  the  Heroides,  a  collection  of  imaginary 
letters  of  legendary  heroines,  such  as  Penelope,  Dido,  Phaedra, 
to  their  lovers.  Here  Ovid  has  shown  his  poetic  power  at  its 
best. 

(2)  The  two  works  of  the  second  period,  the  Metamorphoses  and 
the  Fasti,  are  the  most  ambitious  of  Ovid's  works.  They  deal 

*  So  Martial :  Cynthia  te  vatem  fecit,  I  hints  for  a  lady's  toilette,  also  falls  in 
lascive  Propprti.  this  period. 

f  The  short  poem  Medi-.<imina  /octet,  I 


158       LITEBATUBE  OF  THE  AUGUSTAN  AGK     CHAP.  XL 

respectively  with  Greek  and  Roman  mythologv.  For  the  Metamor- 
phoses or  Transformations,  composed  in  hexameter  verse,  Ovid 
obtained  his  material  chiefly  from  the  Alexandrine  poets  Nicander 
and  Parthenius.  The  Fasti,  a  sort  of  commentary  on  the  Roman 
calendar,  in  elegiac  me1  re,  should  have  consisted  of  twelve  books, 
one  for  each  month  of  the  year,  but  only  six  (March  to  August) 
\\ere  completed. 

(3)  The  third  period  begins  with  Ovid's  banishment  to  Tomi  in 
Scythia,  in  9  A.D.  The  cause  of  this  ban's1  ment  is  one  of  those 
historical  mysteries  which  can  never  be  decided  with  certainty. 
The  poet  l.imself  only  ventures  on  dark  hints.  He  mentions  "a 
poem  and  an  error  "  (carmen  ef.  error}  as  the  two  charges  which  led 
to  his  fate.  He  also  says  that  his  eyes  were  to  blame  (cur  noxia 
lumina  fed  ?).  The  poem  probably  refers  to  his  licentious  Ars 
amatoria  which  was  so  oppos  d  in  spirit  to  the  attempts  at  social 
reform  made  by  the  trainer  of  the  Julian  Laws.  But  the  true  cause 
must  have  been  the  mysterious  error.  It,  has  been  conjectured, 
with  considerable  probability,  that  Ovid  had  witnessed  some  act  oi 
misconduct  on  the  part  of  a  member  of  the  Emperor's  family,  and 
was  piuiuhed  for  not  having  prevented  it.  'I  his  may  have  b«en 
connected  with  the  adultery  of  the  younger  Julu  and  P.  Silanus. 
The  poet  perhaps  was  made  the  scapegoat.  In  his  exile  on  the 
shores  of  the  Euxine,*  he  composes  the  letters  ex  Ponto  (in  four 
Books),  and  the,  Tristia  (in  five  Hooks),  in  which  he  laments  his 
fate  and  implores  to  be  forgiven;  the  Ibis,  a  bitter  attack  on  some 
anonymous  enemy,  on  the  model  of  a  poem  which  Callimathus 
wr.-te  against  A|  ollonius  of  Hhodes;  and  an  unfinished  poem  on 
fishing  (Ualieutica).  He  also  wrote  a  Getic  poem  in  honour  oi 
Augustus.  But  neither  Augustus  nor  his  successor  Tiberius  re- 
voked the  sentence  of  the  unhappy  poet,  and  Ovid  dud  at  Tomi 
in  17  A.D. 

In  handling  the  elegiac  metre,  Ovid  bound  himself  by  stricter 
rules  than  his  predecessors.  He  had  wonderful  facility  in  versi- 
fication, but  he  was  more  of  a  rhetorician  than  a  poet,  and  he  is 
most  successful  where  rhetoric  tells,  as  in  the  Heroides.  He  lived  in 
ease  and  luxury,  and  rejoiced  that  he  lived  in  the  a«re  of  Augustus, 
when  life  went  smoothly  (hasr  aetas  moribus  apta  meis).  His  love- 
poetry  was  distinguished  by  lubricity ;  and  in  this  he  contrasted 
unfavourably  with  Tibullus  and  Propertius.  The  tragedy  of  Medea> 
which  he  composed  in  his  early  period,  is  rot  extent;  but  it  and 
the  Thyestes  of  Vanus  were  the  two  illustrious  tragedies  of  the  day, 
Two  poems,  Nux.  an  elegy,  and  'he  Cons<>lat>o  ad  Liviamfi  were 

*  See  above,  Chap  VI.  $  12,  for  Ovid's  I      f  See  above,  Chap.  IX.  $  6. 
description  of  lile  at  Vomi.  I 


(JHAP.  M.  LIVY.  159 

falsely  ascribed  to  Ovid,  but  were  probably  written  by  some 
contemporary  of  inferior  talent. 

Among  the  friends  of  Ovid,  who  were  likewise  poets,  may  be 
mentioned  SABINDS  who  wrote  answers  to  the  Heroides ;  POXTICUS, 
author  of  a  Thebaid;  CORNELIUS  SKVERUS,  who  tr«  ated  the  Sicilian 
war  with  S'-xtus  Pompeius  in  verse.  The  "starry"  ALBINOVANUS 
PEI»O,*  wrote  a  Theseid,  and  also  an  epic  on  contemporary  history. 

§  6.  The  Georgics  ot  Virgil  and  the  Halieutics  oi  Ovi«i  belong  to 
the  kind  of  poetry  known  as  didactic.  Other  works  of  this  class 
are  the  Cynegetica  of  GKATTIUS,  on  the  art  of  hunting;  and  the 
Astronomica  of  MANILIUS,  in  five  Books.  Of  the  author  of  this 
astronomic. -I  poem  we  know  nothing,  even  his  name  is  uncertain, 
but  he  possessed  poetical  facility  of  no  mean  order,  and  considerable 
originality. 

Most  of  the  short  occasional  pieces,  of  a  light  and  humorous 
nature,  which  were  collected  under  the  title  ot  Priapea,  belong  to 
the  Augustan  age,  and  many  of  them  to  the  best  poets. 


SECT.  II. — LATIN  PBOSE-WBITEBS. 

§  7.  The  History  of  Rome  by  TITUS  Livrus  (59  B.C.-17  A.D.) 
stands  out  MS  the  greatest  prose  work  of  the  Augustan  period.  Livy 
was  born  at  Patavitim,  and  a  certain  Patavinity  has  been  remarked 
in  his  diction.  But  most  of  his  ii"e  was  spent  at  Rome,  where  he 
studied  rhetoric,  wrote  philosophical  dialogues,  and  enjoyed  the 
friendship  of  Augustus.  He  bc^an  his  history  (Ab  urbe  condi.ta 
Ifbri  was  the  title)  soon  after  the  foundation  of  the  Em i  ire,  and 
carried  it  clown  as  tar  as  the  death  of  Drusus  (9  B.C.).  '1  he  work 
consisted  cf  142  Hooks  in  all,  originally  distributed  in  decays  and 
hall-dccads,  which  appeared  separately,  according  as  they  were 
completed.  But  only  35  Hooks  have  been  preserved  to  us,  namely 
B.  1-1<)  and  B.  21-45.  We  ha\e,  however,  short  epitomes  of  the 
contents  of  almost  all  the  lost  Bo  *ks. 

Livy  was  a  mild  and  amiable  man,  who  held  no  extreme  views, 
liked  compromise  and  conciliation,  hated  violence  and  turbulence, 
and  could  be  indulgent  to  men  of  all  parties.  This  lair  and  equable 
temper  can  be  traced  in  his  history;  the  one  thing  which  is  un- 
pardonable in  his  eyes  is  harsh  fanaticism.  Ancient  Rome  is  his 
ideal;  a».d  he  regards  his  own  age  as  degenerate,  destitute  of  the 
virtue*,  simnlirity,  and  piety  which  made  the  old  time  soyreat.  His 
heroes  are  Cincinna  us,  Camillas,  Fabius  the  Delayer.  This  general 

*  Stdereusque  Pedo  (Ovid,  Pont.,iv.  16.  I  another  poet  of  the  day,  Albinovanm 
6.).  He  must  not  be  confounded  with  |  Ceisus,  mentioned  by  Horace. 


160       LITERATURE  OF  THE  AUGUSTAN  AGE.     CHAP.  xi. 

view  of  the  course  of  Roman  history  he  states  in  strong  Language 
in  the  general  preface  to  his  work.  He  invites  his  readers  to  learn 
by  what  men  and  by  what  policy  at  home  and  abroad  the  empire 
of  Rome  was  won  and  increased,  then  to  follow  the  gradual  decline 
of  discipline  and  morals,  then  witness  that  decline  becoming  more 
and  more  marked,  and  ending  in  a  headlong  downward  rush,  until 
his  own  times  are  reached  "  in  which  we  cannot  endure  our  vices 
nor  submit  to  remedies.'*  We  cannot  doubt  his  honesty  as  a 
historian;  but  his  views  of  writing  history  were  such  that  his 
statements  must  often  be  received  with  caution.  For  though  he 
wished  to  tell  the  truth,  he  cared  much  more  for  style  than  for 
facts.  He  had  little  idea  of  historical  method,  or  of  historical 
research.  He  gave  himself  no  trouble  to  -ascertain  the  truth  in 
doubtful  cases.  For  the  early  history  he  simply  worked  up  into 
an  artistic  form  the  narratives  of  Polybius  and  of  late  Roman 
annalists,  especially  Valerius  of  Antium  ;  and  did  not  exert  himself 
to  consult  all  the  available  sources,  or  even  the  best.  His  knowledge 
of  constitutional  matters  was  unsound ;  nor  was  he  at  home  in 
military  history.  He  approached  his  subject  rather  as  a  rheto- 
rician than  as  a  historian ;  and  as  a  literary  work  his  history  takes 
rank  among  the  great  histories  of  the  world.  His  style  was  prolix. 
Ancient  critics  observed  that  he  used  more  words  than  were 
necessary,  and  his  "abundance"  (lactea  ubertas)  was  contrasted 
with  the  conciseness  of  Sallust. 

POMPBIUS  TROGUS  wrote  a  universal  history  hi  forty-four  books, 
beginning  with  the  Assyrian  Nintis,  and  ending  with  his  own  time. 
It  was  entitled  Historic  Philippics.  The  original  work  has  not 
come  down  to  us,  but  in  a  later  age  it  was  abbreviated  by  a  certain 
Justinus,  and  this  abridgment  is  extant.  Other  historians  of  the 
Augustan  period  were  L.  ARRUNTIUS,  who  wrote  an  account  of  the 
Ptmic  war  in  the  style  of  Sallust,  and  KENKSTELLA,  an  antiquarian, 
who,  in  his  Annales,  paid  special  attention  to  social  and  constitu- 
tional history. 

§  8.  C.  JULIUS  HYGINUS,  a  freedman  of  Augustus  and  librarian  of 
the  Palatine  Library,  was  an  interesting  figure  in  the  literary  history 
of  his  time.  He  may  be  regarded  as  the  successor  of  Varro,  as  an 
antiquarian  and  polymath.  He  wrote  on  the  cities  of  Italy  (de  situ 
urbium  Italicarum),  on  illustrious  Romans  (de  viris  claris\  on 
agriculture ;  also  a  commentary  on  Virgil.  All  these  books  are 
lost,  but  a  mythological  (Fabulai)  and  an  astronomical  work  have 
come  down  under  his  name,  and  perhaps  are  really  his. 

Of  other  antiquarians,  many  of  whose  names  we  know,  must  be 
mentioned  M.  VERRIUS  FLACCUS,  who  wrote  a  book  on  the  Calendar 
(  Fasti),  and  an  important  lexicographical  work  entitled  de  verborum 


CHAP.  xi.  GREEK  LITERATURE.  161 

significatu.*  Most  valuable,  as  the  only  work  of  the  kind  that 
has  been  preserved,  is  the  treatise  of  VITRUVIUS  POLIJO,  De  Archi- 
tectures, in  ten  books.  It  was  dedicated  to  Augustus  and  finished 
before  13  B.C. 

Of  the  many  philosophers,  rhetors  and  orators,  who  talked  and 
wrote  at  this  period,  there  is  none  of  any  interest  to  posterity. 
Among  philosophical  writers  may  be  mentioned  Q  Sextius  Niger, 
and  his  son  of  the  same  name;  among  the  rhetors  M.  Porcius 
Latro,  of  whose  declamations  some  extracts  are  preserved;  and 
among  orators,  the  fluent  Haterius,  the  rabid  Labienus,t  the  biting 
Cassius  Severus.  The  two  great  jurists  of  the  Augustan  age  were 
M.  Antistius  Labeo  (59  B.C.-12  A.D.),  and  his  younger  rival  C. 
Ateius  Capito  (34  B.C.-22  A.D.),  who  founded  schools  afterwards 
known  as  the  Proculian  and  Sabinian  respectively. 


SECT.  III. — GREEK  LITERATURE. 

§  9.  Prom  the  year  146  B.O.  forward,  Greek  literature  begins  to 
hold  a  place  in  Roman  history  along  with  the  advance  of  Roman 
sway  over  the  Greek  world.  By  the  time  of  Augustus  nearly  all 
the  Greeks  of  Europe,  Asia,  and  Egypt  have  become  either  im- 
mediate or  federate  subjects  of  Rome.  Their  literature,  therefore, 
on  this  ground  claims  the  attention  of  the  student  of  Roman 
history;  but  still  more  because  many  Greek  writers  busied  them- 
selves with  the  history  and  antiquities  of  their  new  mistress. 
Polybius  is  the  first  and  most  famous  example  of  a  Greek  writing 
Roman  history;  but  under  the  Empire  Greek  books  on  Roman 
subjects  are  numerous. 

DIONYSIOS  of  Halicarnassus  came  to  Rome  soon  after  the  battle 
of  Actium  and  lived  there  for  more  than  twenty  years,  studying 
Latin  literature  and  writing  in  his  own  language  on  Latin  subjects. 
While  he  was  at  Rome  he  associated  with  men  of  the  senatorial 
class,  and  his  writings  are  animated  with  republican  sentiments. 
He  continued  the  work  of  Polybius  in  endeavouring  to  reconcile  his 
countrymen  to  Roman  sway.  Polybius  had  expounded  the  rdle 
which  Rome  was  destined  to  play  in  history ;  Dionysius  is  con- 
cerned to  show  that  she  was  worthy  to  play  it.  In  his  work  on 
"Roman  Archaeology,"  which  he  finished  in  8  B.C.,  he  seeks  to 
prove,  by  tracing  out  mythical  connection  between  Rome  and 
Greece,  that  the  Romans  were  not  really  "  barbarians."  It  was  a 


*  Not    extant,    but    partly    preserved 
through  the  copious  extracts  of  Festus. 
f  He  was  nicknamed  roWet,  f»wu  his 
ROMAN  BMPIBE. 


promiscuous  attacks  on  nil  sorts  and  con- 
ditions of  men. 


LITERATURE  OF  THE  AUGUSTAN  AGE.     CHAP.  xi. 


mark  of  graMtude  for  the  kind  treatment  which  he  experienced  at 
Rome.  This  work  consisted  of  twenty  Books,  but  only  the  first 
eleven  are  preserved  entire.  The  style  is  wordy  and  rhetorical, 
very  unlike  that  of  Polybius.  He  used  good  sources;  but  he  has 
no  appreciation  of  the  meaning  or  methods  of  history;  he  even 
P'  ts  long  rhetorical  speeches  into  the  mouths  of  legendary  persons. 
Fie  defines  history  as  "philosophy  by  examples."  In  tjuesiions  of 
literary  criticism,  however,  he  is  quite  at  home;  and  his  various 
literary  treatises,  in  which  he  shows  thorough  appreciation  of  the 
old  masters,  are  of  considerable  value.* 

More  interesting  in  some  ways  than  the  literary  treatise  of 
Dionys  us  is  that  of  a  certain  LOXOINUS  —  of  whom  personally 
nothing  is  known  —  "on  the  sublime"  (or  more  correctly  "on 
loftiness  of  style  "),f  which  seems  to  have  been  written  in  the 
early  years  of  the  first  century  A  D.  It  contains  much  enlightened 
and  suggestive  criticism.  The  author  had  some  acquaintance  with 
the  Hebrew  scriptures. 

NICOLAUS  of  Damascus  (born  about  64  B.C.)  was  a  great  friend  of 
King  Herod,  whom  he  assisted  in  his  work  of  He'lunism.  HJ  had 
been  the  teacher  of  the  chiMren  of  Antony  and  Cleopatra.  Ho  was 
a  very  prolific  author,  and  wrote  on  philosophical,  rhe'orical  and 
historical  subjects.  His  greatest  work  was  a  universal-  history, 
planned  on  a  very  large  scale,  which  Herod  stimulated  him  to 
compose.  Of  it  we  have  only  fragments.  But  his  pan  gyrical  life 
of  Caesar  (Augustus),  a  declamatory  rather  than  historical  work, 
has  come  down  to  us  comi-lete. 

The  long  Oeo<iraphica  of  STRABO  (63  R.C.-23  A.D.),  in  seventeen 
Books,  is  of  great  historical  importance  as  giving  a  picture  of  some 
of  the  subject  lauds  of  Rome  in  the  Augustan  age.  Strabo  wax  of 
a  good  Cappadocian  family,  a  native  of  Amasea,  and  lived  at  Alex- 
andria. He  came  to  Rome  about  the  same  time  as  Dionysius,  but 
soon  left  it.  He  describes  the  whole  known  world,  but  in  many 
cases  his  information  was  mainly  derived  from  older  books,  and 
cannot  be  taken  as  representing  the  condition  of  things  which  pre- 
vailed in  his  own  time.  Books  i  and  ii.  deal  with  physical  g^ogra]  >hy, 
Books  iii.  to  x.  describe  Eur  -pe,  Books  xi  to  xvi.  Asia,  Book  xvii. 
Africa.  His  accounts  of  As'a  Minor  and  '''gypt  are  especially  valuable, 
as  he  knew  these  lands  himself  and  mentions  many  of  his  own 
experiences.  His  description  of  Spain  is  also  valuable  ;  for  though 


•  "Handbook  to  Rhetoric. 
prjropiKrj)  in  11  parts;  "On  the  Composi- 
tion of  Words"  (in  reference  to  n>sthe:ic 
effect)  ;  "  Criticism  of  the  Ancients  (an 
extract  from  a  larger  work  "  On  Imita- 


tion ") ;  Essays  on  the  Style  of  Pemos- 
ihenes,  «  n  Thucydidec,  &c. 

f  Hfpi  uj/ous.  I  h»re  is  considerable 
uncertainty  about  the  name  and  the  Oate 
of  the  author. 


CHAP.  xi. 


GREEK   LITERATURE. 


163 


h<>  had  not  been  there,  he  had  evidently  received  recent  infor- 
mation about  it,  probably  at  Rome.  Fro'ii  Strain's  work  we 
get  a  very  distinct  impression  of  the  bless  ngs  of  the  Pax  Augusta 
and  the  safety  which  traveller-  now  enjoyed  both  by  sea  and  land. 
He  also  wrote  a  work  entitled  "  Historical  Memoirs,"  in  over  forty 
Books,*  but  it  has  not  been  preserved. 


Digentia.  Horace's  Sahine  Farm. 


Tiberius. 
CHAPTER  XII. 

THE   PBINCIPATE   OF   TIBERIUS  (14-37  A.D.). 

§  1.  Position  of  Tiberius  at  death  of  Augustus.  Possible  rivals.  His 
accession.  §  2.  Deification  of  Augustus.  Will  of  Augustus.  §  3. 
Mutinies  of  armies  in  Germany  and  Pannonia  suppi'essed  by  Ger- 
manicus  and  Drusus.  §  4.  Position  and  designs  of  Germanicus. 
§  5.  His  campaign  in  14  A.u.  against  the  Marsi.  §  6.  Two 
campaigns  in  15  A.D.  against  the  Cherusci.  Ill-luck  of  the  Romans 
in  returning.  §  7.  Great  campaign  of  16  A.D.  Its  description  by 
Tacitus.  Battle  of  Idistaviso.  §  8.  Small  result  of  the  campaigns 
of  Germanicus.  His  recall  by  Tiberius.  Germany  abandoned.  §  9. 
Triumph  of  Germanicus.  §  10.  Drusus  in  Illyricum.  The  Suevians. 
Maroboduus  deposed  retires  to  Ravenna.  End  of  Arminius.  §  11. 
Germanicus  sent  to  the  East.  The  Armenian  question.  §  12.  Hos- 
tility of  Cn.  Piso.  Death  of  Germanicus.  §  13.  Insubordination  of 
Piso.  The  attitude  of  Tiberius.  §  14.  Trial  and  death  of  Piso.  §  15. 
Tacitus  on  Germanicus  and  Tiberius.  §  16.  Conspiracy  of  Libo  Drusus. 
§  17.  War  in  Africa  against  Tacfarinas.  Campaigns  of  Blaesus  and 
Dolabella.  §  18.  Rebellion  in  Gaul.  Florus  and  Sacrovir.  §  19. 
Risings  in  Thrace  suppressed  by  Poppaeus  Sabinus.  §  20.  War  with 
the  Frisians.  §  21.  A  Servile  War  averted. 

SECT.  I. — ACCESSION  OF  TIBERIUS. 

§  1.  IT  was  generally  regarded  as  a  matter  of  course  that  Tiberius 
should  step  into  the  place  of  Augustus.  The  Roman  world  did  not 
dream  of  a  revolution  ;  and  it  was  felt  that  the  monarchy  naturally 
fell  to  him,  who  stood  in  the  same  relation  to  the  now  divine 
Augustus  as  Augustus  himself  to  the  divine  Julius.  Men  uni- 
versally acquiesced  in  the  succession  of  Tiberius  as  the  heir,  the 


14-37  A.D.  ACCESSION   OF   TIBERIUS.  165 

adopted  son,  the  chosen  consort  of  the  deceased  Emperor.  But 
though  such  feelings  moved  men's  minds,  constitutionally  the 
Empire  was  elective,  not  hereditary ;  and  the  senate  and  the  people 
could,  without  infringing  the  constitution,  have  conferred  the 
Principate  on  someone  wholly  unconnected  with  the  Julian  family. 
Augustus  had  himself  named  three  nobles  who  might  possibly 
compete  with  Tiberius  :  Lepidus,  who  was  "  equal  to  the  position, 
but  despised  it ; "  Asinius  Gallus,  who  "  might  desire  it,  but  was 
unequal  to  it ;  "  and  Arruutius,  who  "  was  not  unworthy  of  it  and 
would  dare  to  seek  it,  if  a  chance  were  offered."  But  even  from 
Arruntius,  Tiberius  had  nothing  to  fear ;  the  only  possible  rivals 
seemed  to  be  his  own  kinsmen,  his  nephew  Germanicus,  who  was 
absent  in  Gaul,  and  Agrippa  Postumus,  who  still  pined  in  the  island 
to  which  his  grandfather  had  banished  him.  The  unlucky  Agrippa 
was  slain  by  his  gaoler  immediately  after  the  death  of  Augustus ; 
and  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  order  for  his  execution  was 
given  either  by  Tiberius  or  by  Livia. 

When  the  death  of  Augustus  was  announced,  Tiberius  by  virtue 
of  the  tribunician  power  which  he  had  received  in  the  preceding 
year  for  an  indefinite  period,  convoked  the  senate.  He  had  already 
given  the  watchword  to  the  praetorian  cohorts  and  sent  despatches 
to  the  legions,  as  if  he  were  formally  Emperor.  It  is  not  quite 
clear  whether  this  was  formally  an  act  of  usurpation.  For  it 
might  have  been  held  that  the  proconsular  imperium,  which 
Tiberius  possessed  before  the  death  of  Augustus,  having  been 
bestowed  by  a  decree  of  the  senate  and  not  being  merely  derived 
from  the  imperium  of  the  Princeps,  did  not  cease  on  the  death  of 
the  Princeps.  In  any  case,  the  act  seemed  an  anticipation  of  his 
election  to  the  Principate,  and  Tiberius  afterwards  made  a  sort  of 
apology  for  it  to  the  senate.  But  senate  and  people,  consuls  and 
prefects,  took  an  oath  of  obedience  to  him  without  a  sign  of 
hesitation.  The  proconsular  imperium  was  renewed  or  confirmed, 
and  the  various  rights,  which  had  been  granted  to  Augustus  by, 
separate  enactments,  were  conferred  upon  him,  doubtless  by  a 
single  comprehensive  law  (lex  de  imperio).  Tiberius  indeed, 
adopting  the  maxims  of  statecraft,  which  he  had  learned  from 
his  predecessor,  feigned  reluctance  to  assume  the  immense  task  of 
directing  such  a  vast  Empire,  and  suggested  that  the  functions 
of  government  should  be  divided  among  more  than  one  ruler. 
But  it  was  easily  seen  that  the  suggestion  was  not  intended 
seriously.  It  \vas  part  of  the  transparent  comedy,  which  was 
played  henceforward  between  the  senate  and  the  Princeps.  It  is 
important  to  observe  that  the  practice  adopted  by  Augustus  of 
assuming  the  Empire  for  a  defined  period  of  years  was  now 


166  THE  PRINCIPATE  OF  TIBERIUS.      CHAP.  xn. 

abandoned.  On  the  other  hand,  Tiberius  would  i  ot  assume  it  for 
life.  No  term  was  fixed;  but  he  iniinmud  his  intention  of 
resigning  the  Principate  when  the  state  no  longer  needed  him. 
Here  again  no  one  took  his  words  as  seriously  meant. 

§2.  The  fist  care  of  Tiberius  was  the  niium!  and  deification  of 
Augustus.  The  dead  body  was  borne  by  .-enators  to  tl.e  Campus 
Martins,  \vhereit  was  burnt  and  the  ashes  weie  bestowed  in  the 
imperial  Mausoleum.  Funeral  orations  were  pronou.  ced  both  by 
Tiberius  and  by  his  .*on  Drusus.  The  senate  decreed  temples  and 
priests  to  the  divus  Augustus,  who  was  thus  raised  to  a  place  beside 
his  father,  the  divus  Julius.  His  will,  which  had  been  deposited 
in  the  charge  of  the  Vestal  Virgins,  was  read  before  the  senate  and 
thus  published  abroad.  It  bequeathed  t^o-th  rds  of  his  fortune  to 
Tiberius,  and  the  remainder  to  Li  via,  who  was  to  he  adopted  into 
the  Julian  family  and  bear  the  name  Augu-ta.  If  these  heirs 
failed,  one-third  of  the  property  was  to  descend  to  Drusus,  the  son 
of  Tiberius,  and  the  remainder  to  Gerntmicus  and  his  time  sons. 
But  the>e  legacies  were  considerably  diminished  by  the  large 
donations  which  were  left  to  the  citizens  -nd  to  the  prtetorian  and 
le  ionary  soldiers.  Along  with  his  fortune,  the  old  Emperor 
bequeathed  (in  his  Breviariwm  Imperil)  some  counsels  of 
government.  He  deprecate  1  the  admission  of  provincials  to  the 
privileged  position  of  Roman  citizens;  he  condemned  the  further 
extension  of  the  frontiers  of  Roman  dominion;  and  he  advised 
that  as  many  men  of  ability  as  possible  should  be  engaged  in  the 
administration  of  public  affairs.  It  seems  probable  that  the  second 
of  these  counsels  specially  regarded  the  conquest  of  trans-Rhenane 
Germany,  and  we  shall  see  how  Tiberius  acted  on  it. 


SECT.  II. — GERMANICUS  ON  THE  RHINE. 

§  3.  The  first  weeks  of  the  reign  of  Tiberius  were  disturbed  by 
mutinies  in  the  Rhine  and  Danube  armies.  Discontent  had  long 
been  smouldering,  and  had  only  been  h-nder-  d  from  bursting  forth 
by  res,  ect  for  the  old  Empe  or.  The  soldiers  who  defended  the 
German  frontiers  contrasted  the  hardships- which  they  were  obliged 
to  endure  in  harsh  climates  and  remote  regions,  the  small  pay 
which  they  received,  the  unduly  long  term  of  service  and  the 
inadequate  provision  awaiting  them  at  its  expiration,  with  the  easy 
life  and  the  higher  pay  of  the  prastorian  guards,  who  could  look 
forward  to  g'fts  of  land  in  Italy  itself.  On  the  news  of  the  death  of 
Augustus,  mutinies  broke  out  simultaneously  on  the  Danube  and 
on  the  Rhine.  The  Pannonian  army,  consisting  of  three  legions 


14  A.D.  MUTINY   OF   THE   RHINE  ARMY.  167 

under  the  command  of  Julius  Blsesus,  threw  off  the  authority  of 
their  general,  and  demanded  that  ti  eir  pay  should  be  raised,  that 
the  term  of  service  should  be  reduced  Irom  twenty  to  sixteen  years, 
and  that  the  veterans  should  receive  their  pensions  iu  money. 
Blaesus  was  forced  to  send  his  son  to  Rome,  to  bear  thcs«-  demands  to 
the  new  Emperor,  and  in  the  meantime  the  troops  vented  their  pent 
up  wrath  on  the  centurions,  whom  they  most  detested,  and  refused 
to  perform  their  military  duties.  Tib.  rius  despatched  some  prae- 
torian cohorts  under  his  son  Drusus  to  treat  with  the  mutineers  and 
restore  order,  but  sent  no  definite  message  of  concession.  The 
soldiers  were  enraged  when  they  discovered  that  Drusus  was  in^ 
structed  to  evade  rather  than  comply  with  thtir  demands,  and  the 
young  prince  was  with  difficulty  rescued  from  their  fury.  But  an 
eclipse  ol  the  moon  opportunely  took  place;  the  snp<  rstitious 
soldiers  were  alarmed,  and,  seized  with  a  fit  of  remorse,  they 
listened  to  thr  indefinite  promises  of  Drusus  and  returned  to  their 
allegiance.  The  ringleaders  were  given  up  and  put  to  death. 

The  revolt  of  the  Rhine  legions  was  a  more  serious  danger. 
In  Pannoma  there  was  no  question  of  setting  up  a  rival  emperor; 
but  this  danger  existed  on  the  Rhine.  Germnnicus  Caesar, 
governor  of  Gaul  and  general  of  the  eight  legions  stationed  on  the 
German  frontier,  was  marked  out  as  the  successor  of  Tiberius,  his 
adoptive  father ;  and  the  troops  of  Lower  Germany  conceived  the 
design  of  hastening  his  reign.  Tdey  not  only  demanded  shorter 
service,  higher  pay,  and  lighter  labour,  but  proclaimed  their  inten- 
tion of  carrying  Germanicus  to  Rome,  and  making  him  Emperor. 
Germanicus  was  at  the  time  absent  in  Lugudnnum,  occupied  with 
the  census  of  Gaul.  Aulus  Caecina,  an  experienced  officer,  was 
in  command  of  the  legions  ol  the  Lower  province,  wi  ile  Upper 
Germany  had  been  assigned  to  C.  Silius.  Win  n  the  news  reach*  d 
Germanicus,  he  hastened  to  the  camp  on  the  Lower  Rnine,  which 
lay  in  the  land  of  the  Ubii,  and  appeared  in  the  presence  of  the 
mutineers.  An  exciting  scene  then  took  place;  the  soldiers 
beseeching  their  popular  commander  to  ri^iht  their  wrongs, 
showing  him  the  marks  of  their  wounds  and  stripes,  finally  urging 
him  to  march  to  Rome  and  seize  the  sovran  power;  Germauicus 
exi  ostulatiug  and  praising  the  virtues  of  Tiberius.  The  excitement 
reached  such  a  pitch  that  it  was  necessary  to  withdraw  the  general 
from  the  presence  of  the  troops.  It  was  a  critical  moment.  The 
mutineers  talked  of  destroying  the  Town  of  the  Ubii — Oppidum 
Ubwrum — and  plundering  the  cities  of  Gaul.  The  German  foes 
beyond  the  Rhine  would  not  fail  to  take  advantage  speedily  of 
the  broken  discipline  of  the  army.  To  restore  order,  Geimanicus 
was  forced  to  concede,  in  the  name  of  Tiberius,  the  demands  of 


168  THE   PRINCIPATE  OF  TIBERIUS.       CHAP.  xn. 

the  troops.  He  promised  that  the  term  of  service  should  be 
shortened,  and  that  large  donatives  should  be  distributed.  The 
legions  then  returned  to  their  winter-quarters,  two  under  Germanicus 
to  Oppidum  Ubiorum,  the  other  two  under  the  legatus  Aulus 
Gaecina  to  Castra  Vetera.  But  at  this  moment  messengers  arrived 
from  Rome,  for  the  purpose  of  investigating  the  causes  of  the 
discontent,  and  when  the  soldiers  saw  that  the  concessions  might 
fail  to  be  ratified,  the  mutiny  broke  out  more  furiously  than  ever. 
Germanicus  decided  that  his  wife  and  children  should  leave  the 
camp.  It  does  not  appear  that  he  apprehended  any  serious  danger 
on  their  account,  for  no  measures  were  taken  to  conceal  their  flight. 
They  departed  in  broad  daylight,  and  in  view  of  the  whok  camp. 
The  sight  of  Agrippina  carrying  in  her  arms  tho  little  boy  Gaius, 
who  had  been  born  and  reared  in  the  camp,  and  whom  they  had 
nicknamed  Caligula  "  Boots,"  (from  the  caligse  or  military  boot, 
which  they  made  him  wear  in  sport)  moved  their  hearts  to  remorse. 
The  memory  of  her  father  Agrippa,  her  grandfather  Augustus,  her 
father-in-law  Drusus,  stirrrd  their  pride;  and  when  they  learned 
that  her  destination  was  the  city  of  the  Treveri,  jealousy  prompted 
them  to  make  peace  with  their  general.  Germanicus  seized  on  the 
propitious  moment  to  work  on  their  softened  feelings,  and  recall 
them  to  their  duty.  They  fell  on  their  knees  before  him,  begged  for 
forgiveness,  and  zealously  delivered  their  ringleaders  to  punishment, 
It  seems  likely  that  this  scene  was  expressly  devised  by  Germanicus, 
as  a  last  resource  for  appealing  to  the  nobler  sentiments  of  the 
insurgents. 

Thus  was  the  danger  averted  in  the  Ubian  camp.  In  Castra 
Vetera,  the  skilful  management  of  the  experienced  Csecina  restored 
discipline ;  while  at  Moguntiacum  the  agitators,  who  tried  to  stir  to 
rebellion  the  army  of  the  Upper  province,  seem  to  have  totally  failed. 

§  4.  The  only  peril  which  threatened  the  succession  of  Tiberius 
was  thus  hindered,  and  for  this  he  had  to  thank  the  unshaken 
fidelity  of  his  nephew.  Germanicus  had  refused  to  listen  when  the 
troops  tempted  him  to  disloyalty ;  he  declined  to  take  the  flood  of 
the  tide,  which  might  have  led  him  to  fortune.  If  he  had  marched 
to  Rome  at  the  head  of  the  Germanic  legions,  he  would  have 
plunged  the  state  once  more  in  civil  war,  but  it  is  not  certain 
that  he  would  have  been  the  survivor.  Germanicus  was  a  man 
of  considerable  ability,  and  his  affable  manners  and  urbanity  won 
him  friends  everywhere.  In  the  camp  he  associated  freely  with  the 
soldiers,  and  they  idolized  him.  He  had  his  father's  gift  of  making 
himself  popular,  but  he  had  not  his  father's  genius.  It  was  his 
dream,  however,  to  restore  the  work  which  Drusus  had  so  brilliantly 
begun,  and  carry  the  eagles  of  Rome  once  more  to  the  A  Ibis. 


14  A.D.  FIRST  CAMPAIGN   OF   GERMANICUS.  169 

Immediately  after  the  suppression  of  the  mutiny,  the  young  Caesar 
decided  to  employ  the  discontented  legions,  who  were  themselves 
anxious  for  active  service.  Hostilities  against  the  Germans  had 
been  slumbering  for  the  past  few  years ;  but  no  treaty  had  been 
made  since  the  defeat  of  Varus,  so  that  in  making  a  sudden  incur- 
sion the  Romans  were  formally  justified.  It  has  been  questioned 
whether  Germanicus  was  not  exceeding  his  powers  in  taking  the 
offensive  without  the  express  permission  of  the  Emperor.  But  as  he 
had  been  entrusted  by  Augustus  with  his  large  command  for  the 
purpose  of  conducting  the  war  and  defending  the  frontier  against  the 
Germans,  it  must  clearly  have  been  left  to  his  discretion  when  he  might 
advance  and  when  he  should  retire. 

§  5.  In  the  late  autumn  (14  A.D.)  the  legions  and  cohorts  of  the 
Lower  province  crossed  the  Rhine,  cut  their  way  through  the  Silva 
Caesia,  and  through  the  rampart  which  Tiberius  had  constructed 
after  the  Varian  disaster,  as  the  limes  of  Roman  territory.  Thus 
they  reached  the  land  of  the  Marsi,  who  dwelled  between  the  rivers 
which  are  now  called  Lippe  and  Ruhr.  Csecina  advanced  in  front, 
with  some  light  cohorts  to  reconnoitre  and  clear  the  way.  It  was 
discovered  that  the  Marsi  were  to  spend  the  night  in  solemn 
festivities,  and  when  the  Romans  approached  their  villages  after 
sunset,  the  inhabitants,  unsuspicious  and  inebriated,  offered  an 
easy  prey.  The  legions  were  divided  into  four  "  wedges "  (cunei), 
which  devastated  the  country  for  fifty  miles  with  fire  and  sword, 
sparing  neither  sex  nor  age.  The  holy  places  of  the  Marsi,  especially 
the  sacred  precinct  of  the  deity  Tamfana,  were  levelled  with  the 
ground. 

The  fate  of  the  Marsi  roused  to  arms  the  neighbouring  tribes, 
the  Bructeri,  who  lived  northward,  the  Tubantes,  who  dwelled  on 
the  Rura  (Ruhr),  and  the  Usipetes  between  the  Lnppia  and  the 
Mcenus.  They  stationed  themselves  in  the  woods  through  which  the 
Romans  had  to  return ;  but  the  zeal  of  the  legions  and  the  skill  of 
the  commander  shook  off  the  enemy,  and  the  winter-quarters  were 
safely  reached. 

The  revolt  on  the  Lower  Rhine  had  caused  serious  anxiety  at 
Rome,  and  especially  to  Tiberius,  coming,  as  it  did,  in  conjunction 
with  the  mutiny  in  Pannonia.  The  Pannonic  arrny  was  nearer 
Italy;  on  the  other  hand  the  Germanic  army  was  far  larger;  and 
the  Emperor,  uncertain  in  which  of  the  camps  his  presence  was 
more  needful,  and  afraid  of  giving  the  preference  to  either,  ended 
by  remaining  in  Rome  and  watching  the  issue  of  events.  The 
news  that  Germanicus  had  quelled  the  mutiny  was  a  great  relief; 
but  it  was  suspected  that  the  military  success  which  he  gained 
in  his  brief  campaign  was  not  so  agreeable  to  Tiberius.  If  so,  ths 
8 


170  THE  PBINCIPATE  OF  TIBERIUS.      CHAP.  acn. 

Emperor  dissembled  his  jealousy,  praised  the  achievement  of  his 
nephew  in  the  presence  of  the  senate,  and  granted  him  the  honour 
of  a  triumph. 

§  6.  The  following  year  was  marked  by  two  distinct  invasions 
of  Germany,  which,  however,  hnng  closely  together  and  were  parts 
of  a  common  design.  Of  all  the  German  tribes,  the  Chernsci,  the 
tribe  of  Arminius,  were  the  most  formi<lable  and  the  mo>t  hostile. 
They  had  been  the  leaders  in  the  fiiiht  for  freedom  which  ended  in 
the  Varian  disaster.  Against  them  above  all  others  policy  and 
revenge  excited  the  spirit  of  Germanicus.  His  plan  was  to  prevent 
the  neighbouring  peoples  from  assisting  them  and  then  attack  them 
alone.  Their  most  powerful  neighbours  were  the  Cha'ti,  and  the 
first  expedition  was  directed  against  them.  (1)  In  the  spring 
the  four  legions  of  the  Lower  Rhine  crossed  the  river  from  Castra 
Vetera  under  the  command  of  Csecina,  who  was  to  prevent  the 
tribes  in  that  quarter,  especially  the  Marsi  and  the  Cherusci, 
from  marching  to  aid  the  Chatti.  Caacina's  army  was  augmented 
by  bands  of  the  cis-Rhenane  German  tribes — Batavians,  Ubii  and 
Sugambii.  Meanwhile  Germanicus  himself  at  the  head  of  the 
four  legions  of  the  Upper  Rhine  advanced  into  the  territory  of 
Mount  Taunus,  and  attacked  the  Chatti  so  suddenly  that  no 
serious  resistance  could  be  made.  Their  fortress  Mattium  was 
destroyed.  By  this  means  the  Chatti  were  prevented  from  making 
common  cause  with  the  Cherusci.  That  people  was  distracted  at 
this  time  by  domestic  discords.  Segestes  was  invoking  the  help  of 
the  Romans  against  his  enemy  and  son-in-law  Arminius,  the  hero 
of  the  Teutoburg  Forest.  The  messengers  of  Segestes  reached 
Germanicus  as  he  was  returning  to  th^  Rhine,  and  besought  him  to 
relieve  their  master,  who  was  blockaded  by  his  enemies.  The 
Roman  army  retraced  thtir  steps,  entered  the  borders  of  the 
Cherusci,  and  delivered  their  ally,  who  was  able,  in  return;  to 
restore  some  of  the  spoils  of  Varus,  and  hand  over  some  imp>rtant 
hostages,  among  these  his  daughter  Thnsnelda,  the  wife  of  Arminiua 
That  warrior,  infuriated  at  the  capture  of  his  wile,  left  nothing 
undone  to  stir  up  the  passions  of  his  nation,  and  he  succeeded  in 
winning  over  Tnguiomer,  an  influential  noble,  who  had  hitherto 
sided  with  the  Romans. 

(2)  Germanicus  and  Caecina,  who  had  signally  defeated  the 
Marsi,  having  returned  to  the  Rhine,  prepared  for  a  grand  ex- 
pedition against  the  enemy,  conceived  on  the  same  plan  which 
Drusus  had  formerly  adopted  with  success.  The  army  was  divided 
in  three  parts.  Caecina  led  his  legions  through  the  land  of  the 
Bructeri  to  the  banks  of  the  upper  Amisia;  Germanicus  and  the  four 
legions  of  the  Upper  province  embarked,  to  coast  along  the  shore  of 


15  A.D.         SECOND  CAMPAIGN   OF  GERMANICUS.        171 

the  North  Sea  and  enter  the  river  at  its  mouth  ;  while  the  cavalry, 
tmder  Pedo  Albinovamis,  the  poet,  marched  to  the  same  goal  through 
the  land  of  the  Frisii.  Successfully  united,  the  combined  army  laid 
waste  far  and  wide  the  land  between  the  AmHa  and  the  Luppia. 
Here  they  were  near  the  Saltus  TentoMur-iensis,  where  the  remains 
of  Varus  and  his  legions  lay  unburied,  and  Germanicus  could  not 
resist  the  desire  of  visiting  the  spot,  erecting  a  mound  over  the 
white  bones,  and  honouring  with  funeral  rites  the  slaughtered 
Romans.  The  lonely  and  melancholy  scene  produced  a  deep 
impression  on  the  legions,  but  they  were  soon  required  to  extricate 
themselves  from  a  trip  similar  to  that  which  had  ensnared  the 
Varian  army.  Arminius  had  hidden  his  forces  in  the  forest  and 
the  Romans  had  not  secured  themselves  sufficiently  against  sur- 
prise. But  Germanicus  and  Caacina  were  more  skilful  than  Varus, 
and  though  he  did  not  defeat  the  enemy  he  retreated  to  the 
Amisia  with  some  difficulty.  The  return  to  the  l.hine  was  not  easy. 
The  cavalry  of  Pedo  reached  their  quarters  without  mischance. 
But  the  country  through  which  the  way  of  Caacina  lay  was  heavy 
and  marshy,  and  the  Germans  of  Arminius  and  Iiiguiomer  sought  to 
surround  him  as  they  had  surrounded  Varus.  'I  he  experienced 
Caecina  was  cool  and  collected  in  these  perils,  and  knew  how  to 
maintain  discipline,  but  he  might  have  failed  to  extricate  his  army 
but  for  a  false  move  of  the  foe.  The  Germans  h*d  made  a  success- 
ful attack  on  the  cavalry  and  baggage  of  the  Romans,  and  elated 
by  their  luck  proceeded,  contrary  to  the  counsels  of  Arminius,  to 
assault  the  Roman  camp.  Waiting  until  they  had  reached  the 
rampart,  Caacina  suddenly  threw  open  the  gates  and  poured  out  his 
troops  on  the  besiegers.  The  Germans  suffered  a  decis've  deteat ; 
Inguiomer  was  severely  wounded ;  and  the  Romans  were  able  to 
proceed  on  their  way.  A  false  rumour  of  their  destruction 
had  gone  before  them  to  Castra  Vetera;  and  it  was  proposed 
there  to  break  down  the  Rhine  bridge.  But  the  humanity  and 
courage  of  Agrippina  saved  the  means  of  retreat  lor  the  fugitive  army. 
She  stood  at  the  head  of  the  bridge  and  would  not  move  until  the 
remnant  should  reach  it ;  and  she  was  repaid  by  seeing  the  arrival 
of  the  four  legions  safe  and  whole. 

The  return  of  Germanicus  himself  was  attended  with  ill-luck 
and  serious  losses.  He  found  it  necessary  to  lighten  his  ships 
amid  the  shallow  waters  of  the  Frisian  coast,  and  dis<  mbarked  two 
legions,  directing  them  to  march  along  the  shore.  The  treacherous 
equinoctial  tides  sxvept  away  a  large  number  of  the  soldiers,  and 
much  of  their  baggage.  On  the  whole  the  campaign  could  hardly 
be  regarded  as  a  success.  The  dangers  and  losses  of  the  return 
march  threw  a  cloud  over  the  expedition,  and  Tiberius  had  some 


172  THE  PRINCIPATE   OF  TIBERIUS       CHAP.  xn. 

reason  to  murmur  at  the  little  results  obtained  at  such  expense.  The 
advantages  won  by  Germanicus  were  only  momentary ;  for  he  had  done 
nothing  to  effect  a  permanent  occupation  of  the  country  which  he 
had  laid  waste.  He  had  built  no  fort,  and  established  no  lines  of 
communication.  His  wisdom  in  visiting  the  battlefield  of  Varus 
was  open  to  question.  Tiberius,  naturally  distrustful,  nourished 
some  jealousy  and  perhaps  fear  of  his  popular  nephew,  and  there 
were  enemies  of  Germanicus  at  Rome  who  were  eager  to  encourage 
such  feelings.  But  the  Emperor  had  not  yet  decided  to  interfere 
with  the  plans  of  Germanicus  for  the  subjugation  of  Germany  ;  and 
he  professed  to  regard  the  achievements  of  the  year  as  worthy  of 
a  triumph.  He  seems  not  to  have  fully  made  up  his  mind  yet, 
whether  the  conquest  of  Germany  was  really  desirable  or  its 
permanent  occupation  possible. 

§  7.  The  next,  and  last  campaign  of  Germanicus  (16  A.D.)  was 
planned  on  a  larger  scale.  This  time  he  hoped  to  reach  the  Albis, 
and  break  the  last  resistance  of  the  Cherusci.  A  fleet  of  one 
thousand  ships  was  collected  where  the  Rhine  broadens  and 
branches  into  the  Vahalis ;  and  the  whole  army  embarked  and 
sailed  down  the  Fossa  Drutdana,  where  Germanicus  invoked  the 
spirit  and  recalled  the  memory  of  his  father.  Before  starting  he 
had  taken  the  precaution  to  send  his  legatus  C.  Silius  to  make  a 
demonstration  against  the  Chatti,  and  had  himself,  with  six  legions, 
inarched  up  the  valley  of  Luppia,  to  secure  strongholds  and  make 
provision  for  the  return  of  his  army.  The  fleet  reached  the  mouth 
of  the  Amisia  safely,  and,  leaving  the  ships  anchored  and  guarded, 
the  Romans  advanced  in  a  south-eastward  direction  to  the  banks  of 
the  Visurgis,  where  the  Germans,  prepared  for  their  coming,  had 
concentrated  their  forces  under  the  leadership  of  the  indefatigable 
Arminius.  Here  at  length  the  Roman  invader  and  the  champion 
of  German  freedom  were  to  fairly  try  their  strength  in  a  field 
of  battle. 

The  reserved  historian  Tacitus  rises  to  the  occasion  as  he 
describes  the  campaign  which  decided  both  the  destinies  of 
Germany  and  the  fortunes  of  his  hero  Germanicus.  He  embellishes 
his  Germaniad  with  tales  which  have  a  ring  of  legend  and  throw 
over  the  young  general  a  halo  of  romance  which  his  deeds  hardly 
deserved.  The  colloquy  of  Arminius  and  his  renegade  brother 
Flavus,  standing  on  the  opposite  banks  of  the  Visurgis,  is,  if  not 
true,  well  imagined.  Flavus  had  lost  an  eye  in  the  service  of  the 
Romans,  and  Arminius,  when  he  had  inquired  and  learned  the 
cause  of  the  disfigurement,  asked,  "  What  was  thy  reward?"  "I 
received,"  said  Flavus,  "  increase  of  pay,  a  gold  chain  and  crown, 
and  other  military  distinctions."  "  Vile  badges  of  slavery,"  sneered 


16  AD.  BATTLE   OF   IDlSTAYISO  17B 

his  brother.  Flavus  continued  to  praise  the  greatness  of  Rome 
and  the  Emperor,  while  Arminius  appealed  to  ancestral  freedom, 
and  the  national  gods  of  Germany.  At  length  such  bitter  words 
were  bandied,  and  the  wrath  of  the  brothers  rose  so  high,  that  they 
were  about  to  plunge  into  the  stream  and  grip  each  other  in 
mortal  struggle  ;  but  the  Romans  intervened  and  dragged  Flavus 
from  the  bank.  The  night-adventure  of  Germanicus  has  the  same 
epic  flavour  as  the  converse  of  the  German  brethren.  The  Romans 
crossed  the  Visurgis  in  the  face  of  the  enemy,  who  had  retreated 
into  the  recesses  of  a  sacred  wood,  and  news  was  brought  that 
Arminius  contemplated  a  night-attack  on  the  Roman  camp.  Tacitus 
tells  us  how  Germanicus  (like  our  own  Henry  V.)  was  seized  with 
a  desire  to  ascertain  the  spirit  of  his  soldiers,  and  how,  for  this 
purpose,  he  disguised  himself,  and,  with  a  skin  over  his  shoulders 
attended  by  one  companion,  he  went  round  the  camp  and  listened 
near  the  tents.  He  was  pleased  to  hear  his  own  praises  loudly 
sung  and  to  observe  that  the  men  were  eager  to  punish  the  "  per- 
fidious" foe.  As  he  traversed  the  camp  a  German  horseman  rode 
up  to  the  rampart  and  in  the  Latin  tongue  invited  deserters  in  the 
name  of  Arminius,  with  promises  of  lands,  wives,  and  a  daily  sum 
of  money.  Scornful  was  the  answer :  "  Let  the  day  break,  let 
battle  begin ;  we  will  ourselves  seize  your  wives  and  lands." 

The  battle  was  fought  in  the  plain  of  Idistaviso,  which  probably 
lies  to  the  south  of  the  Porta  Westfalica  on  the  right  bank  of  the 
Visurgis.  The  Germans  had  occupied  the  lower  slopes  of  the 
mountains,  and  were  protected  in  the  rear  by  a  wood,  unencumbered 
with  brushwood,  and  thus  offering  an  easy  retreat.  The  Cherusci 
placed  themselves  on  the  higher  hills,  intending  to  rush  down  upon 
the  Romans  in  the  midst  of  the  battle.  While  the  legions  and 
auxiliaries  advanced  to  attack  the  German  position  in  the  open 
plain,  Germanicus  sent  a  body  of  cavalry  round  to  out- flank  the 
enemy  and  fall  on  their  rear.  This  movement  was  completely 
successful.  The  German  forces  which  were  stationed  in  the  wood 
were  driven  out  of  their  cover  into  the  plain,  while  at  the  same 
tune  the  ranks  which  were  drawn  up  in  the  plain  were  beaten  back 
before  the  onset  of  the  legions  into  the  wood.  The  confusion  was 
increased  by  the  Cherusci,  who  were  forced  by  the  attack  of  the 
cavalry  to  descend  from  the  hills  into  the  midst  of  the  battle. 
Arminius  essayed  bravely  to  sustain  the  fight,  but  he  and  his 
fellows  were  surrounded  by  the  Roman  forces,  and  their  doom 
seemed  sealed.  Arminius,  however,  and  Ingniomer  managed  to 
escape,  perhaps  owing  to  the  treachery  of  some  German  auxiliaries  ; 
the  rest  were  slain. 

This  decisive  victory  was  gained  by  the  "Romans  without  any 


174  THE    PRINCIPATE   OF   TIBERIUS.       CHAP.  xu. 

serious  loss.  The  soldiers  saluted  Tiberius  as  "  Imperator,"  and 
erected  a  trophy  of  the  arms  of  the  enemy,  subscribing  the  names 
of  the  conquered  nations.  The  defeated  and  dejected  Germans 
were,  it  is  said,  preparing  to  cross  the  Albis,  and  leave  their  country 
to  the  victor,  but  this  trophy  exc'ted  their  rage,  and  decided  them  to 
make  another  desperate  attempt.  It  may  he  suspected,  however, 
that  the  battle  of  Idistaviso  was  less  decisive  than  it  has  been 
represented.  In  any  case,  tne  enemy  once  more  collected  large 
forces,  and  occupied  a  place  protected  by  woods  and  a  deep  swamp, 
and  on  one  side  by  an  old  rampart.  But  Germanicus  discovered  their 
position,  and  did  not  fall  into  the  trap.  He  attacked  them  on  the 
side  of  the  earthwork,  and  forced  his  way  into  the  small  space  in 
which  they  were  thickly  packed  together.  Their  position  was 
desperate.  If  they  retreated,  they  must  perish  in  the  marsh  ;  and 
with  their  long  swords  they  could  sustain  no  equal  combat  with  the 
legions  at  such  close  quarters.  Germanicus,  it  is  said,  was  in  the 
thickest  of  the  fray,  crying  that  the  Germans  must,  be  extermina'ed. 
But  the  barbarians  fought  well ;  Arminius  escaped  ;  and  the  cavalry 
engagement  was  indecisive.  At  nightfall  the  Romans  returned  to 
their  camp,  victorious  indeed,  hut  without  having  exterminated  or 
routed  the  foe.  The  Angrivarii  were  the  only  tribe  ^ho  sued  for 
peace.  Germanicus  erected  a  second  trophy,  which  told  how  the 
army  of  Tiberius  Cse-ar,  having  suhdued  all  the  nation0-  between 
the  Rhine  and  the  Albis,  dedicated  this  monument  to  Mars,  and 
Jupiter,  and  Augustus. 

It  was  now  the  middle  of  summer,  and  Germanicus,  notwith- 
standing his  successes,  resolved  to  retrace  his  steps.  Some  oi  the 
legions  returned  by  land,  others  by  sea  on  the  ships  which  awaited 
them  at  the  mouth  of  the  Amisia.  The  voyage  was  disastrous, 
owing  to  violent  gales  which  agitate  the  North  Sea  in  the  autumn 
season;  the  fleet  was  scattered,  ai-d  Germanicus  himself  wrecked 
on  the  shore  of  the  Chauci.  The  losses,  however,  were  not  so 
great  as  was  at  first  thought,  and  on  his  return  to  the  Rhine  some 
successes  gained  against  the  Marsi  and  Chatti  partly  restored  the 
spirits  of  the  troops,  which  the  sea  disaster  had  damped;  and  the 
last  of  the  captured  eagles  of  Varus  were  recovered. 

§  8.  Germanicus  deemed  that  he  was  now  near  the  goal  of  his 
ambition.  One  more  campaign  would  suffice,  he  thought,  for  the 
complete  subjugation  of  Germany.  But  destiny  decreed,  and 
Tiberius  judged,  otherwise.  It  is  clear  enough  that  the  victories  of 
the  last  campaign  were  far  less  important  and  complete  than 
Tacitus  has  tried  to  make  them  out.  Their  resul's  were  only 
temporary,  and  the  Emperor,  perhaps  wisely,  decided  that  no 
abiding  result  was  likely  to  be  achieved  by  Germanicus.  There 


17  A.D.  GEBMANIOU8  RECALLED  175 

was  indeed  reason  for  disappointment ;  nothing  had  been  accom- 
plished in  proportion  to  the  magnitude  of  the  expeditions. 
Accordingly  Tiberius  offered  the  consulship  to  his  nephew,  and  this 
was  equivalent  to  a  recall.  How  far  the  sovran  was  influenced  by 
a  lurking  jealousy  of  the  popular  general,  how  far  he  deemed  it 
inexpedient  that  the  close  counectiou  between  Germanicus  and  the 
Rhine  army  should  continue,  we  cannot  say.  But  it  is  only  fair  to 
point  out  that  the  recall  of  Germanicus  can  be  completely  explained 
by  political  considerations,  without  taking  into  account  any  personal 
motives.  Tiberius  may  have  come  to  the  conclusion  that  annual 
invasions  of  Germany  were  too  slow  and  costly  a  method  of  winning 
the  new  province,  even  though  it  were  certain  that  this  method 
must  ultimately  succeed.  A  different  policy  was  suggested  by  the 
intestine  feuds  of  the  barbarians.  If  the  Romans  retired  from  the 
field  a  deadly  contest  must  soon  take  place  between  the  Saxon  and 
the  Suevian  tribes ;  and  when  the  enemy  had  enfeebled  themselves 
in  domestic  war,  the  Romans  might  step  in  and  take  possession  of 
their  country.  This  was  a  plausible  policy,  and  was  perhaps 
seiiously  entertained  by  Tiberius.  But  it  is  possible  that  he  had 
really  come  to  regard  the  advance  to  the  Albis  as  a  visionary  idea 
which  it  would  not  be  expedient  to  realise.  If  the  Rhine  troops 
changed  their  station  to  the  banks  of  the  Albis,  would  not  another 
army  be  required  to  watch  Gaul,  and  would  the  state  be  able  to 
support  another  army  ?  These  were  the  questions  which  a  states- 
man had  to  consider ;  and  they  may  have  decided  Tiberius,  as  they 
seem  to  have  decided  Augustus,  that  the  Rhine  was  roughly  the 
limit.  In  any  case,  financial  considerations  had  probably  much  to 
do  with  the  disappointment  of  the  dreams  of  Germanicus. 

From  the  year  17  A.D.  forward  we  never  rind  one  man  uniting 
under  his  single  authority  both  the  government  of  the  Gallic 
provinces  and  the  command  of  the  Germanic  armies.  Henceforward 
the  three  provinces  of  Gaul  are  administered  by  three  praetorian 
governors ;  and  the  two  frontier  districts,  Upper  and  Lower  Germany, 
are  kept  strictly  separate  under  two  consular  legati,  who  are  always 
(up  to  the  time  of  Hadrian)  strictly  military  commanders  (legati 
exercitus  inferioris  et  superioris),  not  legati  provincial,  though 
often  lo  >sely  spoken  of  as  such.  The  financial  administration  of 
these  military  districts  was  at  first  combined  with  that  of  Belgica 
(like  that  of  Numidia  with  Africa).  It  is  to  be  observed  that  for 
many  years  yet  the  province  of  Lower  Germany  extended  bej  ond 
the  Rhine  and  as  far  as  the  Lower  Amisia. 

§  9.  The  young  general  celebrated  a  brilliant  triumph  (26  May, 
17  A.D.)  over  the  conquered  nations  between  the  Rhine  and  Albis. 
Thusnelda,  the  wife  of  Arminius,  with  her  infant  son  Thumelicus, 


176  THE   PBINCIPATE   OF  TIBERIUS.       OHAP.  xu. 

whom  she  had  borne  in  captivity,  was  among  the  captives  who 
adorned  the  procession. 

It  is  said  that  in  the  midst  of  the  festivities  people  felt  a  gloomy 
presentiment,  comparing  the  young  Caesar  with  his  father  Drusus 
and  his  uncle  Marcellus,  who,  like  him,  had  been  so  popular,  but 
had  died  so  early.  "  Brief  and  unlucky,"  they  said,  "  have  been  the 
loves  of  the  Roman  people." 

§  10.  After  his  triumph  G-ermanicus  was  appointed  to  an 
honourable  mission  in  the  east.  At  the  same  time  his  cousin 
Drusus  was  sent  to  Illyricum,  to  observe  the  course  of  affairs  in 
northern  Europe.  Arminius  and  his  Cherusci,  with  their  Saxon 
federates,  having  no  longer  to  oppose  the  invasions  of  the  Romans, 
hastened  to  deal  with  the  Suevian  state  in  the  south,  over  which 
Maroboduus  held  sway  with  the  title  of.  king.  It  will  be  re- 
membered that  this  chief  had  refused  to  join  Arminius  after  the 
defeat  of  Varus.  He  was  an  admirer  of  Roman  civilisation,  having 
spent  part  of  his  youth  in  Rome,  and  he  tried  to  introduce  Roman 
manners  and  government  among  his  countrymen.  Throughout  the 
struggle  for  freedom  he  had  remained  persistently  neutral.  The 
centre  of  his  power  and  his  palace  lay  in  Boio-haemum,  but  he  was 
recognized  as  the  head  of  a  large  and  loose  Suevic  confederacy. 
Of  these  tribes,  the  Semnones  and  Langobardi  deserted  his  cause  on 
the  first  attack  of  the  Cherusci.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Chernscan 
Inguiomer  went  over  to  Maroboduus.  A  decisive  battle  was  fought, 
in  which  the  Suevians  were  defeated,  and  many  more  of  his  allies 
deserted  the  Suevic  king,  who  then  applied  for  aid  to  the  Roman 
Emperor.  Tiberius  immediately  sent  Drusus  to  confirm  peace, 
perhaps  really  to  effect  the  downfall  of  Maroboduus.  The  unlucky 
king  was  finally  overthrown  and  driven  from  his  realm  by  Catualda, 
chief  of  the  Gotones,  a  people  who  lived  on  the  lower  Vistula.  They 
invaded  the  land  of  the  Marcomanni,  and  stormed  the  town  and 
stronghold  of  Maroboduus,  who  was  forced  to  flee  to  the  refuge  of 
the  Empire  and  throw  himself  on  the  Emperor's  mercy.  Ravenna 
was  assigned  to  him  as  a  dwelling-place,  where  Thusnelda  and  her 
son  had  been  also  doomed  to  live.  .  It  was  a  curious  historical 
coincidence  that  the  city  of  the  marshes,  which  was  destined  five 
centuries  later  to  be  the  capital  of  the  great  German  hero,  the 
Ostrogothic  king  Theodoric,  should  have  been  selected  as  the 
habitation  of  Maroboduus,  his  predecessor  in  attempting  to 
spread  Roman  ideas  among  his  countrymen.  Maroboduus  lived 
eighteen  years  at  Ravenna,  vainly  expecting  to  be  restored 
to  power.  He  had  the  satisfaction  to  see  Catualda  overthrown 
and  like  himself  seeking  a  refuge  from  the  Romans.  He  had 
the  satisfaction  to  see  his  younger  rival  Arminius  succumb  to 


17  AA  EASTERN  AFFAIRS.  177 

the  guile  of  a  domestic  enemy  (21  A.D.).  After  the  defeat  of  the 
Suevians,  the  hero  of  Germany  had  been  false  himself  to  the 
freedom  for  which  he  had  fought,  and  tried  to  establish  a  monarchical 
power.  He  was  "  undoubtedly,"  says  the  Roman  historian,*  "  the 
deliverer  of  Germany,  and  not  one  of  those  who  attacked  the  Roman 
people  in  the  beginning  of  its  power,  but  when  it  was  at  the  height 
of  its  prosperity.  He  lost  battles,  but  in  war  he  was  unconquered. 
He  died  at  the  age  of  thirty-seven,  in  the  twelfth  year  of  his  power, 
and  he  is  still  sung  among  the  barbarians,  although  to  the  annals 
of  the  Greeks  he  is  unknown,  and  among  the  Romans  not  at 
celebrated  as  he  deserves." 


SHOT.  III. — GKRMANICUS  IN  THE  EAST.    His  DEATH,  AND  THE 
TRIAL  OF  Piso. 

§  11.  In  the  East  several  affairs  demanded  the  attention  of  the 
government,  but  not  so  imperatively  as  to  require  an  extraordinary 
command  like  that  which  Tiberius  assigned  to  Germanicus  after  his 
triumph.  The  dependent  principalities  of  Cappadocia,  Commagene 
and  Cilicia  Aspera  had  to  be  transformed  into  provinces;  for 
Archelaus  of  Cappadocia  had  been  recalled  to  Rome,  and  informed 
that  he  had  ceased  to  reign,  while  the  peoples  of  Commagene  and 
Cilicir,  had,  on  the  death  of  their  princes,  begged  for  a  direct  Roman 
government.  The  inhabitants  of  Judea  and  Syria  were  murmuring 
loudly  at  the  heavy  taxation,  and  demanding  a  reduction.  New 
difficulties  had  also  arisen  with  the  Parthian  kingdom.  Vonones,  a 
son  of  Phraates  IV.,  who  had  been  kept  by  Augustus  as  a  hostage 
and  brought  up  at  Rome,  was  elected  to  the  throne  by  the  Parthians 
after  the  death  of  their  king.  He  did  not,  however,  reign  long  ;  his 
Roman  manners  gave  offence ;  and  he  was  forced  to  surrender  his 
throne  to  Artabanus  of  Media,  and  fly  to  Seleucia.  The  Armenian 
throne  was  at  this  moment  vacant,  and  the  people  accepted  the 
fugitive  Vonones  as  their  sovran;  but  Artabanus,  who  could  not 
endure  the  rule  of  his  rival  in  a  neighbouring  kingdom,  called  upon 
them  to  surrender  him.  Meanwhile  Silanus,  legatus  of  Syria,  got 
possession  of  the  person  of  Vonones  and  detained  him  in  Syria.  All 
these  affairs  might  have  been  arranged  by  ordinary  imperial  legati ; 
but  Tiberius  may  have  had  good  reason  for  sending  a  near  kinsman 
and  a  Caesar,  invested  with  special  powers  and  representing  the 
imperial  majesty,  to  deal  with  Eastern  countries,  where  pomp 
always  produces  its  effect.  Such  a  plan  had  been  successful  before, 
when  Gaius  Csesar  received  a  like  mission  from  Augustus. 

The  sphere  of  the  command  of  flermanicus  was  all  the  provinces 

*  Tacitus,  Ann.,  ii.  88. 

8* 


178  THE  PEINCIPATE  OF  TIBERIUS.      CHAP.  xn. 

beyond  the  Hellespont.  He  travelled  thither  at  leisurely  speed* 
visiting  Nicopolis,  Athens,  and  Lesbos  on  his  way,  and  lingering  in 
the  cities  of  the  Hellespont.  The  affairs  of  Armenia  he  arranged 
without  difficulty,  and  established  friendly  relations  with  the 
Parthian  king.  The  favour  of  the  Armenians  inclined  to  Zeno,  son 
of  Polemo,  former  king  of  Pontus,  who  had  been  brought  up  as  an 
Armenian  from  his  inlancy,  and  was  popular  by  his  excellence  as  a 
huntsman  and  a  trencherman.  Germanicus  visited  the  city  of 
Artaxa'a,  and  solemnly  crowned  Zeno  there  under  the  royal  name  of 
Artaxes.  This  arrangement  also  satisfied  Artabanus,  who  regarded 
Vonones  as  the  Roman  candidate  and  had  put  forward  his  own  son 
Orodes  as  the  Parthian  candidate.  The  election  of  Artaxes  was  a 
satisfactory  compromise,  and  Avtabanus  sem  a  courteous  message  to 
the  Roman  general,  proposing  a  personal  meeting  on  the  Euphrates, 
and  only  requiring  him  to  remove  Vonones  from  Syria,  so  as  to 
prevent  communications  with  the  disaffected  party  in  Persia. 
Germanicus  readily  acceded  to  the  request,  and  Vonones  was 
removed  to  Pompeiopolis  in  Cilicia.  Thus  excellent  relations  were 
established  between  the  Roman  and  tho  Parthian  powers,  and 
continued  to  exist  during  the  lifetime  of  Artaxes,  until  the  last 
years  of  the  reign  of  Tiberius.  Cappadocia  and  Comrnagene  were 
at  the  same  time  incorporated  in  the  provincial  system,  and  thus 
the  direct  rule  of  Rome  extended  now  to  the  Euphratep. 

§  12.  Germanicns  had  speedily  and  satisfactorily  accomplished 
the  main  object  of  his  mission,  but  he  had  other  difficulties  to 
contend  with.  It  was  not  the  intention  of  Tiberius  that  the  ample 
authority  of  the  young  Csesar  should  be  as  completely  unchecked 
in  the  east  as  it  had  been  in  the  north.  Consequently  Si  I  anus, 
who  was  a  personal  friend  of  Germanicus,  was  replaced  as  proconsul 
of  Syria  hy  Cn.  Calpurnius  Piso,  a  proud,  self-asserting  nobleman, 
who  would  not  hesitate  to  hold  his  own  against  his  superior.  The 
position  of  Piso  was  strengthened,  an>i  his  independent  spirit 
encouraged  by  the  bonds  of  intimacy  which  existed  between  his 
wife  Plancina  and  the  Emperor's  mother  Livia.  The  dis-ensions 
of  Piso  and  Germanicus  were  doubtless  embittered  by  the  rivalry  of 
Plancina  and  Agrippina.  Piso  had  been  ins  ructed  to  lead  or  send 
a  portion  of  the  Syrian  army  to  join  Germanicns  in  Armenia.  He 
disobe>ed  this  command,  and  the  ill-feeling  between  the  Caspar  and 
the  le^atus  became  very  bitter.  It  is  not  cl  ar  why  Germanicus 
did  not  invoke  the  intervention  of  the  Emperor.  But  instead  ol 
asserting  his  authority  in  Syria,  he  made  an  excursion  to  Ejypt, 
not  for  any  political  pnrp  >se,  but  from  a  curiosity  to  visit  the 
antiquities  of  the  land.  This  expedition  was  imprudent  in  two 
ways ;  for  it  left  the  field  clear  to  Piso,  and  it  violated  the  law  of 


10A4K  DEATH  OF  GERMANICUS.  179 

Augustus,  that  no  senator  should  set  foot  on  Egyptian  soil,  without 
the  express  permission  of  the  Emperor.  On  returning  to  Syria, 
Germanicus  found  that  Piso  had  disregarded  and  overthrown  his 
own  regulations.  This  discovery  roused  him  into  asserting  his 
authority,  and  Piso  prepared  to  leave  the  province.  Suddenly, 
Germanicus  fell  ill  at  Antioch,  and  Piso  postponed  his  departure. 
The  attendants  of  Germanicus  suspected  and  circulated  their 
suspicions,  that  poison  had  been  administered  to  him  by  Piso  or 
his  wife.  Messages  enquiring  after  the  health  of  the  prince 
arrived  from  Piso,  who  was  lingering  at  Seleucia;  br.t  Germanicus, 
distrustful  of  their  genuineness,  wrote  a  letter  to  the  governor, 
renouncing  his  friendship,  and  commanding  him,  perhaps,  to  leave 
the  province.  Piso  sailed  to  Cos,  and  there  received  the  news  of  his 
rival's  death  (19  A.D.).  Germanicus  himself  believed  that  he  was 
the  victim  of  foul  play,  for  on  his  deathbed  he  charged  hie  friends 
to  prosecute  Piso  und  Plancina.  And  his  uiends  determined  that 
he  should  be  avenged.  Agrippina,  w^h  Jier  children  and  tie  ashes 
of  her  husband,  immediwtely  set  oail  for  KUBJ. 

§  13.  The  staff  of  the  dead  prince  chose  Go.  Renting  or.tiirninus 
to  take  charge  of  Syria,  until  a  new  governor  should  oe  appointed. 
Piso  however  dete-min-d  to  make  a  bold  r,(»tenipi  lo  ic-umc  his 
command  in  that  province,  and  for  tKiS  purpose  ooflcctci  some 
troops  in  Cilicicv,  But  Sentius  was  victorious  in.  an  coga;;  :men',  *n\ 
besieged  Piso  in  tho  Ciliciar  fortress  of  Celeadoris.  The  px-governor 
was  finally  forced  to  submit  and  take  ship  fur  Borne,  w7  ere  an 
unpleasant  reception  awaited  hinio 

The  feelings  of  sympathy  awakened  by  the  death  of  Germanicrs 
wore  intense,  both  in  the  provinces  and  at  Kame.  Triumphal  arches 
were  erected  in  his  honour,  anl  his  statues  ^?crc  set  up  in  cities. 
Inscriptions  recorded  that  he  had  *«  d5cd  fctf  tho  fcpu.  lie.'3  Corre- 
spondingly bitter  was  the  rage  felt  agdnr.it  Tiso  and  Plandna,  who 
were  generally  Relieved  to  have  been  guilty.  N^r  were  there 
wanting  hints  and  murmurs  that  Tiberius  Limse^f  and  Livia  wcrt 
privy  to  the  supposed  crime  of  Piso  and  Planuina.  It  was  thought 
that  Tiberius  regarded  his  nephew  with  jealousy  and  hatred,  r.nd 
rejoiced  at  his  death;  and  it  was  apparently  this  idea  that  en- 
couraged Piso  to  act  as  lie  had  done.  The  reserve  of  Tiberius  in 
regard  to  the  funeral  ceremonies  of  Germanicus,  at  which  he  and 
Livia  were  not  present,  was  interpreted  in  the  same  way,  and  the 
Emperor  even  went  so  far  as  to  show  displeasure  at  the  excess  of 
the  public  lamentations.  He  issued  a  characteristic  edict,  enjoining 
on  the  people  to  observe  some  moderation  in  their  sorrow.  "  Princes 
are  mortal,  the  republic  is  eternal.  Resume  your  business  ;  resume 
your  pleasures  "—be  added,  for  the  Megalesian  games  approached. 


180  THE  PBINCIPATE  OF  TIBERIUS.       CHAP.  xn. 

By  this  contempt  for  popular  sentiment  Tiberius,  it  has  been 
remarked,  was  "  sowing  the  seeds  of  a  long  and  deep  misunder- 
standing between  himself  and  his  people."  Men  contrasted  the 
behaviour  of  Augustus  on  the  death  of  Drusus. 

§  14.  But  the  Emperor  had  no  intention  of  protecting  Piso,  who 
had  been  guilty  of  the  serious  offence  of  trying  to  recover  a  province 
from  which  be  had  been  dismissed  by  a  superior  in  authority. 
The  friends  of  Germanicus  vied  in  undertaking  the  prosecution, 
but  it  was  hard  to  find  advocates  to  plead  the  cause  of  Piso.  His 
friends  wished  the  accused  to  come  before  the  tribunal  of  the 
Emperor,  but  Tiberius  did  not  like  to  undertake  the  decision  of  such 
a  delicate  case,  and  he  referred  the  judgment  of  it  to  the  senate. 
He  opened  the  proceedings  in  the  senate-house  in  a  very  impartial 
speech.  The  charges  of  political  misconduct  were  clearly  proven, 
but  the  charge  of  having  made  attempts  on  the  life  of  Germanicus 
by  magic  and  poison  broke  down.  The  senators,  however,  who 
in  general  sympathised  with  Germanicus,  felt  convinced  that  the 
prince's  death  had  been  due  to  foul  play,  while  the  political  offences 
of  the  culprit  weighed  with  Tiberius.  At  the  close  of  the  second 
day  of  the  trial,  Piso  saw  in  the  cold  look  of  the  Emperor  that  his 
doom  was  fixed.  His  conclusion  was  confirmed  by  the  behaviour  ot 
his  wife  Plancina,  who  had  pleaded  for  him  with  the  Empress  Livia, 
but,  as  his  chances  of  escape  seemed  to  grow  less,  tried  to  sever 
her  own  cause  from  his.  He  anticipated  the  sentence  by  piercing 
his  throat  with  his  sword.  The  senate  expunged  his  name  from 
the  Fasti,  and  banished  his  eldest  son  for  ten  years ;  but  Tiberius 
interfered  to  mitigate  the  sentence  of  the  senate,  and  conceded  Piso's 
property  to  his  son.  The  influence  of  Livia  shielded  Plancina  from 
prosecution. 

Thus  ended  a  domestic  tragedy.  It  must  be  observed  that  even 
if  it  were  certain  that  Germanicus  was  the  victim  of  foul  play,  there 
is  not  the  smallest  reason  to  suspect  that  the  Emperor  was  in  any 
way  concerned,  as  malicious  rumours  hinted.  But  there  is  no  proof 
and  there  can  be  no  certainty  that  the  death  of  Germanicus  was 
brought  about  by  unfair  practices  of  Piso  or  his  wife.  Another 
malicious  report,  which  gained  belief,  was  that  Piso  had  not  died 
by  his  own  hand,  but  had  been  assassinated  by  the  orders  of  the 
Emperor. 

§  15.  The  qualities  of  Germanicus  have  been  painted  in  such 
bright  colours  by  the  great  Roman  historian  who  has  recorded  his 
career,  that  we  cannot  help  feeling  deeply  prepossessed  in  his  favour. 
He  appears  as  one  of  the  ideal  heroes  who  die  young.  But  it  is  not 
clear  that  he  would  have  become  a  great  man,  if  he  had  lived.  His 
exploits  have  been  exaggerated  by  the  enthusiasm  of  his  admirers. 


16  A.D.  LIBO  DRUSUS.  181 

Tacitus,  with  more  regard  to  art  than  truth,  has  selected  him 
as  the  brilliant  hero  to  set  beside  the  dark  figure  of  Tiberius. 
Germanicus  is  generous  and  virtuous;  Tiberius  suspicious  and 
stained  with  crime.  The  uncle  is  the  ideal  tyrant,  the  nephew 
is  the  magnanimous  prince.  This  picture  of  Tacitus  hi  some 
measure  reflects  the  general  feeling  which  seems  to  have  pre- 
vailed on  the  death  of  the  popular  Germanicus.  Tiberius  was 
misunderstood  and  maligned;  the  virtues  of  the  son  of  Drusus 
were  exaggerated. 

§  16.  In  the  year  16  A.D.  a  plot  was  detected,  which,  though  not 
of  a  formidable  nature,  attracted  considerable  attention.  It  shows 
that  there  was  dissatisfaction  in  patrician  circles,  and  illustrates  the 
character  of  Tiberius.  A  young  man  named  Libo  Drusus,  of  the 
Scribonian  family,  was  accused  of  revolutionary  projects.  Scribonia, 
the  second  wife  of  Augustus,  was  his  great-aunt ;  Livia  was  his 
aunt;  and  be  was  the  grandson  of  Sextus  Pompeius  through  his 
mother.  These  connections  with  the  imperial  house  seem  to  have 
turned  his  brain  and  suggested  perilous  ideas,  which  were  encouraged 
by  a  senator  named  Firmius  Catus,  who  was  his  intimate  friend. 
Catus  induced  him  to  consult  Chaldaean  astrologers,  and  dabble  in 
magic  rites,  practices  which  were  tnen  very  dangerous,  as  they 
were  regarded  as  a  presumption  of  treasonable  designs.  He  also 
treacherously  led  Drusus  into  extravagance  and  debt.  Having 
collected  sufficient  proofs  of  guilt,  Catus  sent  a  messenger  to  the 
Emperor,  craving  an  audience  and  mentioning  the  name  of  the 
accused.  Tiberius  refused  the  request,  saying  that  any  further 
communications  might  be  conveyed  to  him  in  the  same  way. 
Meanwhile  he  distinguished  his  cousin  Libo  by  conferring  the 
prsetorship  on  him,  and  often  inviting  him  to  table,  showing  no 
unfriendliness  either  in  word  or  look ;  but  he  kept  himself  carefiilly 
informed  of  the  daily  conduct  of  the  suspected  man.  At  length  a 
certain  Junius,  whom  Libo  had  tampered  with  for  the  purpose  of 
invoking  the  dead  by  incantations,  gave  information  to  a  noted 
informer,  Fulcinius  Trio,  who  immediately  went  to  the  consuls,  and 
demanded  an  investigation  before  the  senate.  Libo  meanwhile 
knowing  his  peril,  arrayed  himself  in  mourning,  and  accompanied 
by  some  ladies  of  high  rank,  went  round  the  houses  of  his  relatives, 
entreating  their  intervention.  But  all  refused  on  various  pretexts. 
When  the  senate  met,  Tiberius  read  out  the  indictment  and  the 
accusers'  names  with  such  calmness  as  to  seem  neither  to  soften  nor 
to  aggravate  the  charges.  Some  of  them  were  of  a  ridiculous  nature ; 
for  example  he  was  accused  of  having  considered  whether  he  would 
ever  have  wealth  enough  to  cover  the  Appian  Road  as  far  as 
Brundusium  with  money.  But  there  was  one  paper  in  which  the 


THE  PEINCIFATE  OF  TIBERIUS       CHAP.  ML 

names  of  Csesars  and  senators  occurred  with  mysterious,  and  there- 
fore suspicious,  signs  annexed.  Liho  denied  the  handwriting,  and 
the  slaves  who  professed  to  recognise  it  were  examined  by  torture. 
As  r.n  old  decree  of  the  senate  iorbade  the  evidence  of  slaves  to  be 
taken  in  cr.ses  affecting  their  master's  life,  Tiberius  evaded  the  law 
by  ordering  the  suves  to  be  sold  singly  to  the  actor  publicuz,  or 
age:.t  of  tl.e  serarium,  so  that  Liho  mi^ht  he  tried  on  their  testimony. 
The  acjused  bagged  for  an  adjournment  till  the  following  day.  On 
going  hrme,he  committed  suicide,  seeing  that  his  case  was  hopeless. 
Tiberius  said  that  he  would  have  interceded  for  him,  guilty  though 
he  was,  if  he  had  not  destroyed  himself.  Libo's  property  was 
divided  among  the  accusers ;  and  some  of  the  senators  proposed 
decrees  reflecting  on  his  momory — for  example,  that  no  Scribonian 
should  bear  the  mime  of  Drusus — in  order  to  please  Tiberius.  Days 
of  public  thanksgiving  were  appointed,  and  it  was  decreed  tLat  the 
day  on  which  Libo  killed  himself  should  be  observed  as  a  festival. 
Such  sycophancy  on  the  part  of  the  senate  became  in  later  times  a 
matter  of  course. 


SECT.  IV.— REBELLIONS  IN  THE  PROVINCES  AND  DEPEND: 

§  17.  We  must  glance  at  the  troublesome,  though  unimportant, 
war  which  was  waged  at  this  time  on  the  southern  borders  of  the 
Empire,  and  at  the  career  of  Tacfarinas,  who  played  in  Africa  the 
same  part  which  the  more  famous  Arrainius  played  in  the  north. 
This  Numidian  had  served  in  the  Homan  army,  and  had  thus 
gained  a  knowledge  of  Roman  discipline  and  military  science.  He 
then  deserted,  placed  himself  at  the  head  of  a  band  of  robbers,  and 
was  finally  elected  as  their  leader  by  the  Musulamij,  who  dwelt 
on  the  southern  side  of  Mount  Aurasius.  The  insurrection  was 
not  confined  to  these  peoples  of  Numidia:  it  spread  westward  into 
Mauietania  and  eastward  to  the  Garamantes.  The  discipline  and 
drill  which  Tacfarinas  enforced  rendered  the  rising  formidable; 
for  his  organized  bands  were  able  to  give  battle  and  attempt  sieges. 
The  commanders,  whom  the  senate  elected  by  lot,  were  incompetent 
to  deal  with  the  insurgents,  and  the  resulting  war  was  protracted 
for  seven  years  (17-24  A.D.).  The  single  legion  which  protected 
Africa  was  reinforced  by  a  second  from  Pannonia,  and,  by  the 
Emperor's  intervention,  an  able  proconsul,  Q.  Junius  Blse*us,  was 
at  length  appointed.  Tacfarinas  had  demanded  from  Tiberius 
a  grant  of  territory  for  hiim>elf  and  his  rebel  army.  Tiberius 
haughtily  refused  and  instructed  Bla3sus  to  hold  out  to  the 
other  chiefs,  who  supported  Tacfarinas,  the  prospect  of  a  free 


17-24  A.D.  MUSULAMIAN  WAR.  183 

pardon  if  they  laid  down  their  arms.  Many  surrendered,  and  then 
Blsesus  attempted  to  meet  Tacfarin^s  by  tactics  similar  to  his  own. 
He  divided  his  army  into  three  columns,  one  of  which  he  dis- 
patched eastward  under  Cornelius  SScipio,  to  act  against  the 
Garamantes  and  protect  Leptis.  In  the  west,  the  son  of  Blsesus 
commanded  a  second  column,  and  defended  the  territory  of  Cirta; 
while  in  the  centre  Blsesus  himself  established  a  number  of 
fortified  positions,  and  thus  embarrassed  the  enemy,  who  found, 
wherever  lie  turned,  Roman  soldiers  in  his  lace,  or  on  his  flank,  or 
in  MB  rear.  When  summer  was  over,  Blsesus  continued  hostilities, 
and  by  a  skilful  combination  of  forts  and  flying  detachments  of 
picked  men,  who  were  acquainted  with  the  de.>ert,  he  drove 
Tacfarinas  back  step  by  step  and  finally  captured  his  brother,  and 
occupied  the  district  of  the  Musulamii  (22  A.D.).  Tiberius  per- 
mitted the  triumphal  ornaments  to  be  awarded  to  Blsesus,  and 
also  granted  him  the  distinction  of  being  greeted  Imperator  by 
the  troops — the  last  occasion  on  which  this  honour  was  granted 
to  a  private  person.* 

But  even  the  success  of  Blsesus  was  not  the  end  of  the 
insurrection.  There  were  three  laurelled  statues  at  Rome  for 
victories  over  the  Musulamian  chief — those  of  Camillus,  Aprouius, 
and  Blaesus — and  yet  he  was  still  ravaging  Africa,  supported  on 
the  one  hand  by  the  king  of  the  Garamantes,  on  the  other  by  the 
Moors.  His  boldness  was  increased  by  the  circumstance  that, 
after  the  campaign  of  Blsesus,  the  IXth  legion  had  been  n  called 
from  Africa.  In  24  A.D.  he  laid  siege  to  Thubursicum,  a 
Numidian  town  lying  a  little  to  the  north  of  Mount  Aurasius.  The 
proconsul  of  the  year,  Publius  Dolabella,  immediately  collected  all 
his  troops,  and  raised  the  siege.  Knowing  by  the  experience  of 
previous  campaigns  that  it  was  useless  to  concentrate  his  heavy 
troops  against  an  enemy  which  practised  such  desultory  warfare  as 
Tacfarinas,  Dolabella  adopted  the  plan  of  Blsesus,  and  divided  his 
forces  into  four  columns.  He  also  obtained  reinforcements  from 
Ptolemy,  king  of  the  Mauretanians.  Presently  he  was  informed 
that  the  Numidian  marauders  had  taken  up  a  position  close  to 
Auzea  (Aumale),  a  dilapidated  fort,  surrounded  by  vast  forests. 
Some  light-armed  infantry  and  squadrons  of  horse  were  immediately 
hurried  to  the  place,  without  being  told  whither  they  were  going. 
At  daybreak  they  fell  upon  the  drowsy  barbarians,  who  had  no 
means  of  flight,  as  their  horses  were  tethered  or  pasturing  at  a 
distance.  The  dispositions  of  the  Romans  were  so  complete  that 
the  enemies  were  slaughtered  or  captured  without  difficulty.  The 

*  He  was  nephew  of  Sejanus,  the  pnetorian  prefect  (see  next  chapter). 


184  THE  PBINCIPATE  OF  TIBERIUS.       CHAP,  xtt 

general  was  anxious  to  capture  Tacfarinas,  but  that  chieftain, 
driven  to  bay,  escaped  captivity  by  rushing  on  the  weapons  of  his 
assailants.  His  death  ended  this  tedious  war. 

§  18.  During  this  period  there  were  also  grave  disturbances  in 
Gaul  and  Thrace.  In  Gaul  the  fiscal  exactions  had  led  to  heavy 
accumulations  of  debt  among  the  provincials,  and  the  creditors 
pressed  for  payment.  The  provincials  resorted  to  counsels  of 
despair.  A  conspiracy  was  formed  to  organize  a  rebellion 
throughout  the  whole  land,  and  throw  off  the  Roman  yoke.  The 
leaders  were  Julius  Florus  and  Julius  Sacrovir,  two  Romanised 
provincials.  Florus  undertook  to  gain  over  the  Belgse  and  Treveri 
while  Sacrovir,  who  perhaps  held  some  priestly  office,  intrigued 
among  the  Mdui  and  other  tribes.  The  secret  was  well  kept,  and 
the  revolt  broke  out  in  western  Gaul  in  the  consulship  of  Tiberius 
and  Drusus  (21  A.D.).  But  the  first  rising  was  premature.  The 
Andecavi  and  the  Turones — whose  names  still  live  in  Anjou  and 
Tours — moved  too  soon,  and  were  crush sd  by  the  garrison  of  Lugu- 
dunum,  under  Acilius  A  viola,  the  Itgatus  pr.  pr.  of  Lugudunensis. 
This  false  move  put  the  Romans  on  their  guard,  and  the  subsequent 
risings  of  the  Treveri  were  easily  foiled  by  the  governors  of  the  two 
Germanic  provinces.  Florus  slew  himself  to  escape  capture.  The 
JSdui  had  seized  the  important  city  of  Augustodunum  (Autun), 
but  they  too  were  easily  defeated  by  C.  Silius,  legatus  of  Upper 
Germany,  at  the  twelfth  milestone  from  that  town.  Sacrovir 
escaped  from  the  field  to  a  neighbouring  villa,  where  he  fell  by  his 
own  hand,  and  his  faithful  comrades  slew  one  another,  having  first 
set  fire  to  the  house.  A  triumphal  arch  was  erected  at  Arausio 
(Orange)  to  commemorate  the  defeat  of  Sacrovir. 

§  19.  The  dependent  kingdom  of  Thrace,  after  the  death  of 
Rhcemetalces,  who  had  loyally  stood  by  the  Romans  in  the 
Dalmatian  revolt,  was  divided  between  his  brother  Rhascuporis 
and  his  son  Cotys.  Their  jealousies  and  feuds,  which  ended  in  the 
murder  of  Cotys,  led  to  Roman  interference  and  the  execution  of 
his  uncle  (19  A.D.).  Two  years  later  a  formidable  insurrection  of 
the  western  tribes  broke  out.  The  rebels  besieged  Philippopolis, 
but  were  defeated  by  P.  Vellseus,  the  governor  of  Moesia.  They 
rebelled  again  in  25  A.D.,  and  of  this  rising  we  have  more  details. 

The  mountaineers  refused  to  submit  to  levies  and  to  supply  their 
bravest  men  to  the  armies  of  Rome.  A  rumour  had  spread  that 
they  were  to  be  dragged  from  their  own  land  to  distant  provinces, 
so  that,  mixed  with  other  nations,  they  might  lose  their  own 
nationality.  They  sent  envoys  to  the  governor  of  Achaia  and 
Macedonia,  Poppasus  Sabinus,  assuring  him  of  their  fidelity,  if  no 
fresh  burden  were  laid  upon  them.  Otherwise  they  gave  him  to 


555,  26  A.D.  WAR  IN  THRACE.  185 

understand  that  they  would  tight  for  their  freedom,  lie  gave  mild 
answers  until  he  had  completed  his  preparations;  but  when  he  had 
concentrated  his  forces,  and  was  joined  by  a  legion  from  Mcesia  and 
reinforcements  from  Rhceiiietalces,  son  of  Rhascuporis,  he  advanced 
on  the  rebels,  who  had  taken  up  a  position  in  some  wooded  defiles 
ha  their  mountains,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  a  strong  fortress. 
Sabinus  fortified  a  camp  and  occupied,  with  a  strong  detachment, 
a  long  narrow  mountain  ridge,  which  stretched  as  far  as  the 
enemies'  fortress,  which  it  was  his  object  to  capture.  After  some 
skirmishing  in  front  of  the  stronghold,  Sabinus  moved  his  camp 
nearer,  but  left  his  Thracian  allies  in  the  former  entrenchments, 
with  strict  injunctions  to  pass  the  night  vigilantly  within  the  camp, 
while  they  might  harry  and  plunder  as  much  as  they  wished  in  the 
daytime.  Having  observed  this  command  for  some  time,  they 
began  to  neglect  their  watches,  and  gave  themselves  up  to  the 
enjoyment  of  wine  and  sleep.  Learning  this,  the  insurgents 
formed  two  bands,  of  which  one  was  to  surprise  the  pillagers,  the 
other  to  attack  the  Roman  camp,  in  order  to  distract  the  attention 
of  the  soldiers.  The  plan  was  successful,  and  the  Thracian 
auxiliaries  were  massacred. 

Sabinus  then  laid  regular  siege  to  the  stronghold,  and  connected 
his  positions  with  a  ditch  and  rampart.  The  besieged  suffered 
terribly  from  thirst,  and  their  cattle  were  dying  for  want  of  fodder. 
The  air  of  the  place  was  polluted  with  the  stench  of  the  rotting 
carcasses  of  those  who  had  perished  by  wounds  or  thirst.  In  this 
situation,  many  followed  the  advice  and  example  of  an  old  man 
named  Dmis,  who  surrendered  himself,  with  his  wife  and  children, 
to  the  Romans.  But  two  young  chieftains  named  Tarsa  and 
Turesis  had  determined  to  die  for  their  freedom.  Tarsa  plunged 
his  sword  in  his  heart,  and  a  few  others  did  likewise.  But  Turesis 
and  his  followers  decided  to  prolong  the  struggle,  and  pjanned 
a  night-attack  on  the  camp  during  a  storm.  Sabinus  was  pre- 
pared, and  the  brave  barbarians  were  beaten  back  and  compelled 
to  surrender.  The  triumphal  ornaments  were  decreed  to  Sabinus 
(26  A.D.). 

§  2u.  Against  a  revolt  of  tributaries  on  the  northern  boundary  of 
the  Empire,  the  arms  of  Rome  were  not  so  successful.  The 
Frisians,  who  had  been  subdued  by  Drusus  in  12  B.C.,  had  for 
forty  years  paid  the  tribute  which  he  imposed  on  them.  This 
tribute  consisted  in  ox-hides,  which  were  required  fo;*  military 
purposes,  and  the  officers  who  levied  it  never  examined  too 
curiously  the  size  or  thickness  of  the  skins,  until  in  28  A.D. 
Olennius,  a  primipilar  centurion,  who  was  appointed  to  exact  the 
tribute,  chose  the  hides  of  wild  bulls  as  the  standard.  As  the 


186  THE  PRINCIPATE   OP  TIBERIUS.       CHAP,  xu 

domestic  cattle  of  the  Germans  were  of  small  size,  the  Frisians 
found  this  innovation  hard.  In  order  to  meet  the  demands  of 
Olennius,  they  were  forced  to  give  up,  first  their  rattle,  then  their 
lands,  finally  to  surrender  their  wives  and  children  as  pledges.  As 
their  complaints  led  to  no  redress,  they  rose  in  revolt.  The 
soldiers,  who  were  collecting  the  tribute,  were  impaled  on  gibbets, 
and  Olennius  himself  was  obliged  to  flee  to  the  fortress  of  Flevum 
— probably  in  the  island  of  the  same  name,  now  Vlieland,  near  the 
Texei — which  was  a  Roman  coastguard  station.  When  the  news 
reached  L.  Apronius,  the  governor  of  Lower  Germany,  he  summoned 
some  veteran  legionaries  and  chosen  auxiliaries  from  the  upper 
province,  to  reinforce  his  own  legions,  with  which  he  sailed  down 
the  Rhine,  and  relieved  Flevum,  which  the  Frisians  were  besieging. 
He  then  constructed  roads  and  bridges  over  the  adjoining  estuaries, 
in  order  to  transport  his  legionaries  into  tne  heart  of  the  Frisian 
territory;  and  in  the  meantime  sent  some  auxiliary  cavalry  and 
infantry  across  by  a  ford  to  take  the  enemy  in  the  rear.  The 
Frisians  beat  these  forces  back ;  more  cohorts  and  squadrons  were 
sent  to  the  rescue,  but  these  too  were  repulsed ;  and  soon  all  the 
auxiliary  forces  were  engaged.  The  legions  were  at  length  able  to 
intervene,  and  just  saved  the  cohorts  and  cavalry,  who  were  com' 
pletely  exhausted.  A  large  number  of  officers  had  fallen,  but 
Apronius  did  not  attempt  to  take  vengeance  or  even  to  bury  the 
dead.  Two  other  disasters  completed  the  ill-luck  of  the  Romans. 
Nine  hundred  soldiers  were  destroyed  by  the  enemy  in  the  wood  of 
Baduhenna;  and  another  body  of  four  hundred,  who  had  taken 
possession  of  a  country  house,  perished  by  mutual  slaughter,  to 
avoid  falling  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy.  No  further  steps 
seem  to  have  been  taken  against  the  Frisians.  These  events 
probably  confirmed  Tiberius  in  his  determination  to  regard  the 
Rhine  as  the  limit  of  the  Roman  Empire,  and  he  thought  it  a  good 
op|K>rtunity  to  abandon  the  last  relic  of  the  conquests  of  his 
brother  beyond  that  river. 

§  21.  The  reign  of  Tiberius  was  very  nearly  being  marked  by  a 
slave  war  in  Southern  Italy,  but  by  a  lucky  accident  the  movement 
was  crushed  in  its  very  beginning  (24  A.D.).  The  organiser  of  the 
rebellion  was  Titus  Curtisius,  who  had  once  been  a  praetorian 
soldier.  He  held  secret  meetings  at  Bnmdusium  and  other  towns 
in  the  neighbourhood ;  then  posted  up  placards,  and  incited  the 
slave  population  in  Calabria  and  Apulia  to  assert  their  liberty. 
Three  vessels  happened  to  come  to  land  just  then,  and  from  them 
the  quaestor  Curtius  Lupus  (who  had  charge  of  the  saltus,  or 
forests  and  pastures  in  those  parts)  obtained  a  force  of  marines  and 
crushed  the  conspiracy.  Curtisius  and  his  chief  accomplices  were 


28  AJX 


FRISIAN  WAR. 


187 


sent  prisoners  to  Borne,  where,  says  Tacitus,  "men  already  felt 
alarm  at  the  enormous  number  of  the  slave  population,  which  was 
ever  increasing,  while  the  free-born  population  grew  less  every 
day."  The  great  marvel  is  that  combinations  among  the  slaves 
were  not  more  common,  and  that  it  was  not  thought  necessary  to 
keep  considerable  garrison*  in  the  towoi  of  Italy  to  meet  such 


View  ot  Brundusmm, 


L'arthiau  Warriors,  from  Trajan's  Column. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

THE   PBINCIPATE   OF    TIBERIUS  (continued). 

I.  Tiberius  develops  the  dyarchy  on  the  lines  of  Augustus.  Political 
rights  of  the  people  diminished.  §  2.  Institution  of  a  permanent 
Prefecture  of  the  City.  §  3.  Improvement  of  the  civil  service- 
The  consilium.  §  4.  The  army.  Praetorian  Castra.  §  5.  Finances. 
§  6.  The  provinces.  §  7.  Italy.  Economic  crisis  (33  A.D.).  §  8. 
Administration  of  justice.  Legislation.  Social  reforms.  §  9. 
Maiestas.  Case  of  Lratorius  Priscus.  §  10.  The  delatores.  §  11.  The 
younger  Drusus.  §  12.  Plots  of  Sejanus  and  Livilla.  Death  of 
Drusus.  §  13.  Li  via,  Livilla,  Agrippina,  and  Antonia.  §  14.  In- 
fluence of  Sejanus.  Deaths  of  C.  Silius  and  Cremutius  Cordus.  Claudia 
Pulchra.  Attacks  on  Agrippina.  §  1 5.  Tiberius  leaves  Rome  (25  A.D.) 
and  settles  at  Caprese.  Incident  at  the  Spelunca.  §  16.  Trial  and 
death  of  Titius  Sabinus.  §17.  Death  of  Livia.  §18.  Plots  of  Sejanus 
against  family  of  Agrippina.  Nero  declared  a  public  enemy.  §  19. 
Power  of  Sejanus.  He  conspires  against  the  Emperor.  His  fall. 
§  20.  Deaths  of  Agvippina  and  her  son  Drusus.  §  21.  Prosecutions  of 
the  friends  of  Sejanus.  Servility  of  the  senate.  Marcus  Terentius. 
Foolish  proposals  of  senators  rejected  by  Tiberius.  §  '22.  Relations 
with  Parthia.  Artabanus  lectures  Tiberius.  L.  Vitellius  sent  to  the 

,  East,   and   Mithradates   of  Iberia   set   up   in   Armenia.     Warfare   in 


14-37  A.D.  CESSATION  OF  COMITIA.  189 

Armenia.  §  23.  Vitellius  intervenes.  Tiridates  seut  to  Par  this. 
Artabanus  expelled  and  then  restored.  His  submission  to  Rome. 
§  24.  Deeigns  of  Tiberius  fo?  the  succession.  Gains,  son  of  Germanicus, 
and  Tiberius  Gemellus,  son  of  the  younger  Drusus.  §  25.  Death  of 
Tiberius  at  Misenum.  §  26.  Estimate  of  Tiberius.  His  character. 
§  27.  His  policy  and  its  effects  on  literature.  Velleius  Paterculus. 
Valerius  Maximus.  Phaedrus.  §  28.  Tacitus  on  Tiberius. 

SECT.  I. — CIVIL  GOVERNMENT  OF  TIBERIUS. 

§  1.  As  the  reign  of  Tiberius  was  singularly  exempt  from  wars,  the 
Emperor  was  able  to  devote  his  undivided  attention  to  domestic 
government  and  the  welfare  of  his  subjects.  His  policy  was 
distinguished  by  a  conservative  spirit.  The  chief  principle  of  his 
administration  was  to  follow  the  lines  marked  out  by  his  pre- 
decessor. By  abandoning  the  practice,  which  Augustus  had  adopted, 
of  receiving  an  investiture  of  supreme  power  for  a  limited  period 
only,  he  made  a  step  nearer  undisguised  monarchy.  The  decen- 
nalia,  or  feast  in  honour  of  the  decennial  renewal  of  the  tribuni- 
cian  power  of  the  Emperor,  survived  as  a  mere  custom,  without 
any  political  meaning.  In  two  important  matters  he  went  beyond 
Augustus  in  emphasising  the  dyarchy  and  excluding  the  people 
from  the  government.  (1)  The  functions  which  Augustus  had  left 
to  the  comitia  of  the  people  in  electing  magistrates  were  taken 
away  by  Tiberius,  and  transferred  to  the  senate,  soon  after  his 
accession.  The  only  part  left  to  the  people  was  to  "  acclaim " 
those  whom  the  senate  chose.  Tiberius  preserved  the  imperial 
rights  of  nomination  and  commendation  of  candidates  within  the 
limits  marked  out  by  his  father.  (2)  The  people  did  not  formally 
lose  its  sovran  right  of  legislation,  but  since  the  time  of  Tiberius  it 
actually  ceased  to  legislate.  For  the  Emperor  and  the  magistrates 
ceased  to  bring  leges  before  the  comitia;  there  are  only  two 
instances  of  such  leges  in  the  reign  of  Tiberius,  while  there  are 
numerous  senatusconsulta.  The  later  Emperors,  Claudius  and 
Nerva,  temporarily  revived  the  old  practice ;  but  with  these 
exceptions  it  may  be  said  that,  from  Tiberius  forward,  legislation 
consisted  of  the  consulta  of  the  senate  and  the  rescripts  of  the 
Emperor.  The  only  legislative  purpose  for  which  the  people  had 
any  longer  to  meet  in  comitia  was  to  confer  the  tribunician  power 
on  a  new  Princeps. 

§  2.  Another  important  matter,  in  which  Tiberius  carried  further 
an  idea  originated  by  Augustus,  was  the  establishment  of  a  perma- 
nent Prefecture  of  the  city  of  Rome.  We  have  seen  that  this 
office  had  been  instituted  as  a  temporary  provision  for  the  care  of 
the  city  during  absences  of  the  Emperor,  and  Lucius  Calpurnius 
Piso  had  been  appointed  prefect  when  Augustus  left  Rome  in  14  A.D. 


190  THE  PBINCIPATJE  OF  TIBEB1U8.       CHAP.  zm. 

Tiberius  made  the  office  a  permanent  post  of  great  dignity,  only 
open  to  senators  of  consular  rank.  He  placed  the  three  cohortes 
urban*  at  the  disposal  of  the  prefect,  and  thus  deprived  the  senate 
of  the  police  control  of  the  city.  The  prefect  had  a  criminal 
court,  in  which  he  administered  summary  justice  in  the  case  of 
slaves  and  "  roughs."  Piso  held  the  office  for  nearly  twenty  years, 
till  his  death  in  32  A.D.  Tiberius  also  instituted  a  new  official  of 
consular  rank  to  look  after  the  banks  of  the  Tiber,  euro,  riparum  et 
alvei  Tiberis,  in  addition  to  the  cura  aquurum  which  had  been 
founded  by  Augustus. 

§  3.  Tiberius  concerned  himself  for  the  improvement  of  the  civil 
service.  One  great  defect  of  the  prevalent  system  was  that  offices 
were  filled  by  inexperienced  young  men,  who  held  them  for  only  a 
brief  time.  Tiberius  tried  to  remedy  this  by  extending  the  period 
of  tenure,  and  men  began  to  complain  that  they  grew  old  in  the 
discharge  of  the  same  duties.  He  did  not  attempt  to  introduce  this 
innovation  in  the  case  o?  the  magistrates  appointed  by  the  senate, 
and  this  was  a  sign  *hai  :\c  was  in  earnest  with  the  maintaining  of 
the  imperial  system  of  Augustus,  by  which  the  senate  had  its 
sphere  of  activity  independent  of  the  Emperor.  And  whan  the 
proposal  came  from  that  body  (in  22  A.D.)  that  the  Emperor  should 
test  the  qualifications  of  senatorial  magistrates,  Tiberius  rejected  it. 
He  always  behaved  with  studied  politeness  to  senators,  and  he 
was  accustomed  to  refer  to  the  senate  matters  which  might  more 
naturally  have  come  before  himself  Like  Augustus,  he  employed 
a  consitium,  which  consisted  of  his  personal  advisers  and  twenty 
illustrious  members  of  tho  senatorial  and  equestrian  orders ;  but 
it  does  not  appear  that  this  cabinet  council  had  any  real  influence 
in  political  affairs.  Tiberius  was  curiously  reserved  in  avoiding  the 
assertion  of  his  sovran  power  by  titles  and  outward  forms.  In 
affecting  to  disguise  his  imperial  position  he  vent  much  further  than 
Augustus.  He  never  bore  the  prsenomen  Imperator,  and  called 
himself  Augustus  only  when  he  was  corresponding  with  foreign 
princes.*  He  refused  the  title  pater  patrise,  and  forbade  all,  except 
his  slaves,  to  address  him  as  dominus.  He  did  not  permit  temples 
or  statues  to  be  erected  to  himself,  and  he  rejected  the  proposal 
to  consecrate  his  mother,  Li  via  Augusta. 

§  4.  In  the  army  he  maintained  strict  discipline.  He  declined 
to  fulfil  the  promises  of  higher  pa\7,  which  had  been  made  to  the 
mutineers  in  Illyricum  and  on  the  Rhine,  after  his  accession;  and 
instead  of  shortening  the  period  of  service,  he  actually  lengthened  it. 
These  facts  indicate  the  strength  of  his  authority  with  the  troops. 
He  took  away  from  victorious  generals  the  privilege  of  bearing  the 
*  His  usual  title  is  Ti.  Ctuar  divi  J«0u*ti/(»Ztu*> 


14r~87  A.D.  FINANCES.  191 

title  imperator,  and  reserved  it  for  members  of  the  imperial  family. 
In  regard  to  the  prastorian  guards,  he  made  an  innovation,  which 
had  an  important  bearing  on  the  future  course  of  Roman  history. 
Augustus  had  allowed  only  three  cohorts  to  be  quartered  within 
the  city,  the  other  six  being  dispersed  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Rome.  Tiberius  caused  a  pt^  rmanent  camp  to  be  built  in  front  of 
the  Porta  Viminalis  (23  A.D.),  and  henceforward  all  the  nine  cohorts 
were  stationed  there  together.  Thus  united,  they  were  conscious  of 
their  numbers,  and  felt  their  power ;  and  at  many  a  crisis,  they 
disposed  of  the  Empire  and  elected  Emperors.  This  step  also 
increased  considerably  the  political  power  ot  the  praetorian  prefect ; 
in  fact,  the  idea  seems  to  have  emanated  from  the  favourite 
councillor  of  Tiberius,  L.  ^lius  Sejanus,  whom  he  had  appointed 
praetorian  prefect,  and  who  saw  how  his  own  position  would  be 
strengthened  by  a  concentration  of  the  forces  under  his  command. 

§  5.  The  financial  policy  of  Tiberius  was  careful  and  successful. 
The  expenses  of  supplying  Rome  with  corn  and  feeding  the 
populace  grew  larger  in  his  reign  than  they  had  been  under 
Augustus.  But  in  spite  of  this  Tiberius  was  so  economical  that  he 
was  always  able  to  act  liberally  in  special  emergencies.  He  did 
not  waste  the  funds  of  the  state  in  donatives  or  costly  buildings. 
The  only  public  edifices  built  by  his  command  were  the  Temple  of 
Augustus  and  the  Theatre  of  Pompey.  But  when  many  of  the 
famous  cities  of  Asia  were  laid  in  ruins  by  an  earthquake,  Tiberius 
succoured  them  with  the  princely  gift  of  10,000,000  sesterces 
(£80,000)  and  caused  the  senate  to  remit  to  the  inhabitants  the 
payment  of  their  tribute  for  five  years.  He  had  himself  to  supply 
the  deficiency  in  the  aararium.  We  find  him,  in  33  A.D.,  bestowing 
on  that  treasury  100,000,000  sesterces  (£800,000) ;  and  in  36  A.D. 
he  gave  the  same  sum  for  the  relief  of  the  sufferers  in  a  great 
conflagration  on  the  Aventine  Hill.  He  never  raised  the  rate  of 
taxation.  When  Cappadocia  became  a  province,  on  the  strength 
of  the  addition  which  thus  accrued  to  the  revenue  he  reduced  the 
tax  of  1  per  cent,  on  the  sale  of  goods  to  £  per  cent.* 

§  6.  The  liberality  of  Tiberius  in  coming  to  the  relief  of  the 
provinces,  in  the  case  of  disasters,  introduced  a  new  principle  into 
Ronun  statesmanship.  Men  were  beginning  to  see  that  Home,  the 
mistress,  had  duties  towards  her  subject  lands.  This  policy  of 
Tiberius  is,  as  has  been  observed,  one  of  the  first  signs  of  the 
reaction  of  the  provinces  upon  Rome.  It  was,  indeed,  in  the 
exercise  of  his  proconsular  functions  that  Tiberius  most  conspicuously 
showtd  himself  as  a  wise  and  largo-minded  statesman.  If  he  was 
hated  at  Rome,  he  was  loved  in  the  provinces.  There  is  ample 
*  It  was  raised  again  in  31  A.D. 


192 


THE  PEINCIPATE  OP  TIBERIUS.       CHAP.  MIL 


testimony  to  prove  that  his  reign  was,  to  the  subjects,  a  period  of 
unusual  happiness.  The  discipline  of  the  troops  was  strictly 
maintained,  and  the  control  exercised  over  the  conduct  of  the 
governors  was  efficient  and  severe.  The  means  of  obtaining 
justice  against  oppression  were  facilitated,  and  under  no  reign  were 
there  so  many  prosecutions  of  governors  and  procurators  for 
extortion.  Besides  this,  the  burdens  were  never  increased;  and 
the  new  principle  of  keeping  the  same  governor  at  his  post  for  a 
long  time  seems  to  have  worked  satisfactorily.  C.  PopDsms 
Sabinus,  legatus  of  Macedonia  and  Achaia,  which  Tiberius  had 
united  in  a  single  imperial  province  (15  A.D.),  held  that  office 
throughout  almost  the  whole  rei;j;n.  The  imperial  provinces  were, 
as  a  rule,  more  equitably  ruled  than  the  senatorial.  This  is  Jio-,vn 
clearly  under  Tiberius  by  the  number  of  cases  in  which  proconsuls 
were  condemned  for  maladministration.*  The  subjects  themselves 
considered  it  a  piece  of  good  fortune  to  be  transferred  from  the 
government  of  the  senate  to  that  of  the  Emperor.  Tiberius  expressed 
his  provincial  policy  in  saying  that  "  it  is  the  part  of  a  good 
shepherd  to  shear  his  sheep,  not  to  flay  them.'*  The  special 
regulation  which  made  the  governors  responsible  for  acts  of  rapaoity 
on  the  part  of  their  wives,  deserves  notice. 

§  7.  If  he  cared  for  the  provinces,  Tiberius  did  not  neglect  to 
help  and  guide  the  senate  in  promoting  the  welfare  of  Italy.  He 
piovided  for  the  public  safety  and  the  security  of  travellers  against 
robbers  by  stationing  troops  in  various  parts  of  the  country ;  and 
all  disturbances  were  promptly  suppressed.  He  also  concerned 
himself  for  the  revival  of  agriculture,  which  had  been  slowly  and 
surely  declining  in  Italy  during  the  past  century,  owing  to  the 
disappearance  of  the  population  of  free  labourers,  so  that  the 
peninsula  was  dependent  on  foreign  supplies  for  her  maintenance. 

A  serious  economic  crisis  occurred  in  33  A.D.,  and  the  Emperor 
was  obliged  to  interpose  in  order  to  save  credit.  The  professional 
accusers  (delatores)  made  an  attack  upon  the  money-lending 
capitalists,  who  had  been  systematically  acting  in  defiance  of  two 
laws  of  Julius  Caesar.  Oue  of  these  laws  forbade  any  one  to  have 
more  than  60,000  sesterces  (£480)  of  ready  money  in  hand ;  the 
rest  of  each  man's  property  was  to  be  invested  in  lands  and  houses 
in  Italy.  The  other  regulated  the  relations  between  lenders  and 
borrowers,  and  the  amount  of  interest.  The  matter  came  before  the 
ciiy  praetor  Gracchus,  who  thought  it  necessary  to  refer  the  question 
to  the  senate,  as  so  many  people  were  concerned.  But  the  senators 

*  There  are  four  cases :  (l)  Granius  proconsul  of  Crete,  (4)  Vibius  Serena?, 
Marcellus,  proconsul  of  Asia,  (2)  C.  Sila-  proconsul  of  Baetica,  were  all  condemned, 
uus,  proconsul  of  Asia,  (3)  Caesius  Cordus, 


33  A.D.  FINANCIAL  CRISIS.  193 

themselves  were  all  guilty  of  transgressing  the  law,  and  so  they 
appealed  to  the  Emperor.  He  granted  a  year  and  six  months, 
within  which  term  everyone  was  to  arrange  his  accounts  in  con- 
formity with  the  law.  The  usurers  immediately  called  in  their 
loans,  and  a  large  number  of  the  debtors,  in  order  to  meet  their 
obligations,  were  obliged  to  sell  their  estates.  It  was  foreseen  that 
this  would  lead  to  a  scarcity  of  money,  and,  in  order  to  keep  specie 
in  circulation,  a  senatusconsultum  in  the  spirit  of  Caesar's  law  was 
passed,  that  every  creditor  should  have  at  least  two-thirds  of  his 
capital  invested  in  estates  in  Italy.  But  the  remedy  proved  only  an 
aggravation  of  the  evil.  For  the  creditors  hoarded  up  their  money 
to  buy  land  cheap,  and  the  value  of  estates  fell  so  much  that  the 
debtors  could  not  pay  their  debts.  Many  families  were  ruined ; 
but  at  length  Tiberius  came  to  the  rescue,  and  advanced  100,000,000 
sesterces  as  a  loan  fund,  from  which  any  debtor  might  borrow,  for 
three  years  without  interest,  on  giving  security  to  the  state  for 
double  the  amount.  By  this  means  credit  was  restored,  and  the 
remaining  debtors  were  enabled  to  save  their  estates  or  get  the 
legitimate  value  for  them. 

§  8.  Tiberius  paid  special  and  minute  attention  to  the  adminis- 
tration of  justice.  He  introduced  a  new  and  salutary  regulation, 
that  nine  days  should  intervene  between  the  sentence  and  its 
execution,  in  the  case  of  culprits  condemned  by  the  senate.  That 
body  became,  in  his  reign,  the  high  court  of  criminal  justice.  But 
the  Emperor  exercised  paramount  control  over  its  decisions;  and  in 
all  cases  which  affected  his  own  interest,  the  senate  merely 
expressed  what  they  knew  to  be  his  will.  In  legislation  Tiberius 
was  also  active.  The  lex  Juuia  Norbana  (19  A.D.)  was  a  measure 
to  protect  such  freedmen  as  had  not  been  strictly  emancipated,  but 
were  released  from  slavery  by  their  masters.  This  law  rendered 
them  independent  of  their  masters  for  life,  and  gave  them 
commercium  without  connubium,  or,  as  it  was  called,  Juniana 
Latinitas.  They  could  neither  bequeath  property  by  will,  nor 
receive  bequests  from  others.  The  equestrian  class  was  also 
Umited  by  a  senatusconsultum,  which  excluded  those  whose 
grandfathers  were  not  freeborn,  and  who  did  not  possess  a  fortune 
of  400,000  sesterces  (£32,000). 

In  his  endeavours  to  reform  abuses  and  suppress  nuisances  in 
Rome  and  Italy,  the  Emperor  increased  and  confirmed  his 
unpopularity.  He  limited  the  number  of  gladiators  in  the  arena  , 
and  on  the  occasion  of  a  riot  in  the  theatre,  he  expelled  the  players 
from  the  city.  He  made  a  vain  attempt  to  banish  soothsayers  from 
Italy.  He  tried  to  suppress  the  Oriental  rites,  which  were  making 
themselves  a  home  in  Rome  ;  he  forbade  especially  the  worship  of 


194  THE  PBINCIPATE   OF  TIBERIUS.      CHAP.  xm. 

isis,  and  cast  her  statue  into  the  river.  He  also  adopted  severe 
measures  against  Jews,  who  possessed  Roman  citizenship,  ill  Italy. 
They  had  attempted  to  evade  military  service,  and  on  this  ground 
were  regarded  as  ba'l  subjects,  and  their  rites  were  forbidden.  Four 
thousand  Jew  freedmen  were  transported  to  Sardinia,  and  set  the 
task  of  reduce  the  robbers  who  infested  that  unhealthy  island. 
The  limitation  of  the  right  of  asylum  may  also  be  mentioned  here, 
though  it  chiefly  affected  the  eastern  part  rf  the  Empire,  where  many 
places  of  refuge  had  been  established  for  the  protection  of  criminals. 
These  religious  ref-iges  secured  immunity  to  crime,  and  they  had 
become  public  nuisances. 

Tiberius  could  do  little  to  combat  the  prevailing  luxury  and 
dissipation  among  the  higher  classes.  Frugal  and  modeiate 
himself,  he  deeply  disapproved  of  the  extravagance  of  the  aristocracy, 
and  the  absurd  sums  which  were  sp-nt  on  furnituie  and  the 
luxuries  of  the  table.  But  he  saw  clearly  hat  sumptuary  laws 
were  futile,  and  he  said  publicly  that  the  time  was  not  fit  for  a 
censorship.  He  was  careful  to  keep  up  the  state  religi.-n,  which 
Augustus  had  revived.  His  mother  Livia  sat  in  publ  c  among  the 
Vehtal  virgins;  and  the  priests  of  the  newly  founded  college  of  the 
Sodales  Augustales,  who  were  to  preserve  the  worship  of  the  divine 
Augustus,  consisted  of  the  leading  senators. 

§  9.  The  part  of  the  policy  of  Tiberius,  which  perhaps  did  most 
to  render  him  disliked  by  both  contemporaries  and  posterity,  was 
the  new  interpretation  which  he  gave  to  maicstas.  This  crime  was 
properly  an  offence  against  the  abstract  majesty  of  the  common- 
wealth, and  it  came  to  include  anything  tending  to  bring  the  state 
into  contempt.  A  lex  Julia  of  Cassar  had  defined  strictly  the 
various  forms  which  maiestas  might  assume,  a"d  had  been 
extended  by  Augustus,  who,  however,  had  made  little  use  of  it. 
But  Tiberius  seized  on  the  law  of  m'iestas  as  a  means  for  his  own 
security ;  and  under  him  treason  became  an  offence  against  the 
person  of  the  Emperor,  who  thus  comes  to  be  regarded  as  the  state. 
Any  insult  offered  to  the  Pnnceps  in  either  speech  or  writing,  was 
brought  under  the  head  of  maiestas.  Tiberius  did  not  deem  himself 
safe  against  treachery,  and  he  decided  to  resort  to  this  engine, 
which  could  not  fail  to  be  abused  and  bring  odium  upon  him. 
It  was  an  instrument,  by  the  fear  of  which  he  hoped  to  control 
the  senators,  and  prevent  them  from  expressing  a  dissentient  view, 
lest  it  should  be  construed  as  treason.  The  case  of  Lutorius  Prisons 
shows  how  outrageously  *his  safeguard  could  be  abused.  Priscus 
was  a  knight  who  had  written  verses  on  the  death  of  Germatiicus, 
aud  had  received  from  Tiberius  a  gift  as  a  reward.  Some  time 
later  Drusus  fell  ill,  and  Priscus,  encouraged  by  his  former  success, 


14-87  A.D.  MAIESTAS.      DELATION  195 

composed  a  poem  on  Drusus,  to  be  published  In  case  the  prince 
should  not  recover.  But,  though  Drusus  did  not  die,  the  poet 
could  not  resist  the  pleasure  of  reading  his  compo*ition  to  an 
audience,  and  the  consequence  was  that  the  matter  became  known, 
and  he  was  accused  before  the  senate.  The  senate  found  him 
guilty  of  counting  on  the  death  of  a  C«esar;  only  two  senators 
proposed  that  he  should  be  leniently  dealt  with,  as  his  act  was  due 
to  thoughtlessness,  not  to  evil  intent.  But  he  was  condemned  to 
death,  and  the  sentence  was  forthwith  cairied  out.  Til>erius  was 
absent  from  Home  when  this  happened,  and  when  he  returned  he 
regretted  the  occurrence,  and  praised  the  view  of  the  small  minority. 
This  affair  of  Prisons  led  to  the  regulation  already  mentioned,  that 
a  delay  should  intervene  between  the  sentence  and  the  infliction  of 
punishment. 

§  10.  The  evils  pf  this  unhappy  extension  of  the  scope  of  maiestas 
were  aggravated  by  the  encouragement  which  was  given  by 
Tiberius  to  the  delatores.  Originally  the  delator  was  one  who  apprized 
the  officers  of  the  exchequer,  of  debts  that  were  due  to  the  state. 
The  name  was  extended  to  those  who  informed  in  the  cases  of 
offences  which  were  subj-  ct  to  fines.  Augustus  encouraged  delation 
by  offering  rewards  to  those  who  lodged  information  against  the 
violators  of  his  marriage  laws.  Delation  soon  became  a  regular 
profession,  and  as  there  was  no  public  prosecutor,  it  was  very  con- 
venient to  the  government  to  have  prosecutions  conducted  by 
private  delators.  When  Tiberius  came  to  the  throne,  he  regarded 
delation  as  an  admirable  instrument  for  securing  the  administration 
and  enforcement  of  justice,  and  therefore  encouraged  it.  But  when 
he  discovered  how  terribly  it  was  abused  and  how  odious  it  was  to 
his  subjects,  he  concluded  that  it  was  too  dangerous  a  remedy,  and 
set  himself  to  check  it,  for  he  was  honestly  anxious  to  administer 
justice  purely  and  strictly.  The  citizens  lived  in  fear  and  terror 
of  the  unscrupulous  informers;  and  Tiberius  tried  to  hinder  the 
distortion  of  the  laws  by  instituting  a  tribunal  of  fifteen  senators. 
But  he  relapsed  afterwards  into  countenancing  the  practice  of 
delation,  owing  to  the  influence  of  the  prsetorian  prefect,  Sejanus ; 
and  as  the  law  of  treason  became  more  comprehensive  and 
extravagant,  the  delators  became  more  terrible. 

SECT.  II. — KIBE  OF  SEJANUS.     DEATH  OF  DRUBUS. 

§  11.  The  death  of  Germanicus  removed  difficulties  from  the 
path  of  Tiberius,  in  regard  to  the  succession.  It  had  been  difficult 
for  him  to  hold  the  balance  evenly  between  Germanicus  and  his 
own  son.  How  precisely  he  endeavoured  to  make  no  distinction 


196  THE   PRINCIPATE  OP  TIBERIUS.       CHAP.  xra. 

between  them  is  shown  by  a  coin  of  Sardis,  where  Drusus  comes 
first  in  the  inscription,  but  Germanicus  sits  on  the  right  haud  in  the 
picture.  Drusus  was  morally  and  intellectually  inferior  to  his 
cousin,  but  was  deeply  attached  to  him,  and  after  his  death,  acted 
as  a  father  to  his  children.  The  attitude  of  Tiberius  to  Germanicus 
seems  to  have  been  much  like  that  of  Augustus  to  Tiberius 
himself.  From  a  feeling  of  duty  to  the  state,  he  might  acquiesce 
in  the  designation  of  his  nephew  as  his  successor,  but  his  affection 
prompted  him  to  prefer  Drusus,  though  the  father  and  son  were  not 
always  on  the  best  terms.  After  the  mysterious  death  of 
Germanicus,  he  set  himself  to  secure  the  succession  of  Drusus,  to 
the  exclusion  of  his  nephew's  children.  Ovations  had  been  decreed 
to  both  the  young  Csesars  for  the  successful  discharge  of  their 
fcasks  hi  Armenia  and  Illyricum.  The  pacifier  of  Armenia  nevei 
returned  to  Rome,  but  Drusus  celebrated  his  ovation  in  20  A.D., 
and  in  the  following  year  held  the  consulship  for  the  second  time. 
In  22  A.D.  his  father  raised  him  to  the  position  of  an  imperial 
consort,  by  causing  the  senate  and  people  to  confer  upon  him  the 
tribunician  power. 

§  12.  But  though  the  Emperor  seemed  to  have  cause  to  regard 
his  nephew's  death  as  a  piece  of  good  luck,  his  hopes  for  his  son 
were  destined  to  be  frustrated.  Drusus  had  married  the  sister  of 
Germanicus,  the  younger  Livia,  generally  called  Livilla  to  dis- 
tinguish her  from  the  wife  of  Augustus.  She  was  beautiful, 
ambitious,  and  unscrupulous,  and  seems  to  have  had  an  ally  in  her 
namesake,  the  Augusta.  She  was  seduced  into  an  intrigue  with 
Sejanus,  the  handsome  and  powerful  prefect  of  the  guards,  who 
pretended  to  be  in  love  with  her  and  flattered  her  ambitious  hopes 
with  promises  of  marriage  and  the  imperial  throne,  if  the  hindrance, 
which  stood  in  their  way,  were  once  removed.  Sejanus  was  a 
native  of  Vulsinii  in  Etruria,*  and  belonged  to  the  equestrian  class. 
In  his  youth  he  had  served  on  the  staff  of  Gaius  Csesar.  By  his 
address  and  tact  he  had  worked  himself  into  the  confidence  of 
Tiberius,  and  had  at  length  become  indispensable  as  an  adviser  and 
semi-official  minister.  The  Emperor  did  not  dream  how  high  the 
ambition  of  his  favourite  soared.  For  Sejanus  was  not  content  with 
being  the  right  hand  of  his  master;  he  longed  to  occupy  himself 
the  highest  position  in  the  state.  But  Tiberius  was  thoroughly 
blinded  by  his  useful  and  servile  instrument,  and  used  to  throw  off 
his  habitual  reserve  in  his  intercourse  with  Sejanus.  He  even  went 
so  far  as  to  call  the  prefect,  not  only  in  private  conversation,  but 
in  ad  tresses  to  the  senate  and  the  people,  "the  associate  of  my 

*  Hence  Juvenal  calls  him  "  the  Tuscan,"  Xat.,  x.  74 :  Si  Nortia  (an  Etruscan  god- 
i^ss)  Tusco  favisset. 


23  AD.  DEATH  OF  DBUSUS.  197 

labours,"  and  allowed  his  busts  to  be  placed  in  the  theatres  and 
fora.  But  these  marks  of  favour  were  given  freely,  just  because 
it  never  entered  the  thought  of  Tiberius  that  a  man  of  the  origin 
and  position  of  Sejanus  could  possibly  be  dangerous.  Drusus  saw 
more  deeply  into  the  character  of  his  father's  favourite,  and  mur- 
mured at  the  influence  which  an  alien  had  acquired  at  the 
expense  of  a  son.  On  one  occasion  he  raised  his  hand  to  strike  the 
hated  prefect.  Sejanus,  who  had  already  begun  to  pave  his  way  to 
the  throne  by  arranging  an  alliance  between  his  own  daughter  and 
a  son  of  Claudius,  the  brother  of  Germanicus,  determined  to  sweep 
Drusus  from  his  path. 

Suddenly  Drusus  died  (23  A.D.),  seemingly  of  an  accidental 
illness;  but  eight  years  after  it  was  discovered  that  poison  had 
been  administered  to  him  by  the  machinations  of  his  wite  Li  villa, 
and  her  paramour  Sejanus.  It  was  a  heavy  blow  to  Tiberius.  The 
children  of  his  son  were  still  too  young  to  be  designated  as  his 
successors,  and  nothing  was  left  but  to  adopt  Nero  and  Drusus,  the 
eldest  sons  of  Germanicus.  He  led  the  youths  before  the  senate 
and  recommended  them  as  the  future  rulers  of  the  state.  Sejanus, 
who  had  divorced  his  wife  Apicata,  proposed  to  marry  Livilla,  but 
Tiberius  forbade  the  union,  which  could  only  lead  to  new  candi- 
dates for  power.  The  prefect  was  driven  to  frame  new  plans.  He 
resolved  to  destroy  the  family  of  Germanicus. 

§  13.  Tiberius  was  now  surrounded  by  four  imperial  widows, 
who  made  his  court  a  scene  of  perpetual  jealousy  and  intrigue. 
These  were  his  mother  Livia  and  his  daughter-in-law  Livilla,  his 
sister-in-law  Antonia,  and  Agrippiua.  The  will  of  Augustus  had 
left  Livia  a  share  in  the  supreme  power,  and  she  desired  to  exert  it. 
Her  name  appeared  with  that  of  her  son  on  the  imperial  rescripts. 
Tiberius  was  unable  to  shake  oif  her  influence,  while  he  deprecated 
her  interference  in  public  affairs,  and  she  had  a  strong  party  of 
adherents  in  the  senate,  who  proposed  to  call  her  mater  patrice. 
The  ambition  of  the  strong-minded  Agilppina  had  been  dis- 
appointed by  the  death  of  her  husband,  but  she  hoped  to  rise  again 
through  her  children.  Her  chastity  and  fertility  made  her  an  ideal 
Roman  matron,  but  she  had  a  violent  temper  and  an  unbridled 
tongue.  She  regarded  the  Emperor  as  her  natural  enemy,  and  the 
leniency  which  was  shown  to  her  rival  Plancina  filled  her  with  resent- 
ment. Nor  was  she  satisfied  even  when  her  sons,  Nero  and  Drusus, 
were  marked  out  as  the  successors  of  Tiberius.  The  fulfilment  of 
her  ambitious  dreams  seemed  still  too  far  away. 

§  14.  After  the  death  of  Drusus,  Tiberius  leaned  more  and  more 
on  Sejanus,  and  from  this  period  the  Eomans  remarked  a  de- 
generation in  the  home  government.  The  prefect  worked  on  the 


198  THE  PRITOIPATE   OF  TIBERIUS.      CHAP.  xm. 

Emperor's  fears  by  pretending  to  discover  conspiracies  against  him, 
and  many  acts  of  cruelty  were  committed.  But  it  must  be  noted 
that  this  change  for  the  worse  affected  only  the  circles  of  nobles  and 
officials,  and  did  not  involve  any  deterioration  in  the  general 
prosperity  of  the  Empire.  Many  victims,  in  high  positions,  were 
sacrificed  unjustly  to  suspicion  and  intrigue,  but  the  Roman  world, 
as  a  whole,  was  still  well  governed.  The  key  to  the  tyranny  which 
marked  the  second  half  of  the  principal  of  Tiberius  is  probably  to 
be  found  in  his  knowledge  that  Agrippina  had  a  large  party  of 
sympathisers  in  the  senate,  who,  after  the  death  of  Drusus,  joyfully 
looked  forward  to  the  succession  of  her  children.  This  party  he 
and  Sejanus  determined  to  crush  out.  The  first  victim  attacked 
by  Sejanus  was  C.  Siiius,  whom  we  have  seen  doing  good  work 
on  the  northern  frontiers,  and  whose  wife  was  a  friend  of 
A«rippina.  He  was  accused  of  having  connived  at  the  rebellion 
of  Sacrovir  and  of  extortion,  and  the  charges  pressed  him  so  hard 
that  he  committed  suicide  before  sentence  was  passed.  His  wife 
was  banished,  and  his  possessions,  said  to  have  been  wrung  from 
the  provincials  of  Gaul,  were  confiscated.  It  is  doubtful  whether 
Cremutius  Cordus,  a  Stoic  philosopher,,  and  author  of  Annals  of 
the  Republic  during  the  period  of  the  civil  wars,  was  also  a  partisan 
of  Agrippina.  In  his  work  he  had  ca  Jed  Gassius  "  the  last  of  the 
Romans,"  and  although  Augustus  had  read  the  boot  and  found 
no  fault  in  it,  this  expression  was  now  (2$  A.^O  made  a  cause 
of  accusation  against  him.  It  waj  said  fffofi  hi;  work  was  an 
attempt  to  excite  a  rebellion.  Crenr.tr/S;  tft&&;icr;  that  his  case 
was  prejudged,  delivered  a  bitter  srwecl*  in  tr^e  senate,  and, 
returning  home,  starved  himseli  to  djaih.  Alt  that  could  then 
be  done  was  to  burn  his  books. 

In  the  following  year  (26  A.D.)  the  debtors  attacked  Agrippina 
through  her  cousin  Claudia  Pulchra.*  They  charged  this  lady  with 
the  crime  of  adultery  and  also  with  having  made  attempts  on  the 
Emperor's  life  by  poison  and  magic.  Thereupon  Agrippina  sought 
the  presence  of  Tiberius,  and  fonnd  him  sacrificing  to  the  divinity 
of  his  father.  "  The  same  man,"  she  cried,  "  cannot  offer  victims  to 
the  divine  Augustus,  and  persecute  his  posterity."  Stung  by  the 
reproaches  which  she  heaped  upon  him,  Tiberius  quoted  a  Greek 
verse  to  this  effect :  "  My  daughter,  have  I  done  you  wrong,  because 
you  are  not  a  queen?"  On  the  news  of  the  condemnation  of  her 
cousin,  Agrippina  fell  dangerously  ill.  When  Tiberius  visited  her, 
she  besought  him  to  permit  her  to  take  a  second  husband.  To  such 

*  It  seems  that  Claudia  Pulchra  was  I  would  be  the  sobrina  (cousin  on  the 
daughter  of  Marcella,  the  daughter  of  mother's  side)  of  the  granddaughter  oi 
OetavU.  The  granddaughter  of  Octavla  I  Augustus. 


26AJX  PAKTY  OF   AGfiiFi'lNA.  199 

a  step  there  were  the  same  objections  which  he  had  opposed  to  the 
union  ol  Li  villa  and  IS-  janus,  but  Tiberius  deemed  it  more  prudent  n<>t 
to  urge  them  then,  and  he  left  the  room  abruptly.  This  anecdote 
was  told  in  the  Memoirs  of  Agrippina's  daughter,  the  mother  of 
Nero.  Such  scenes  as  these  were  calculated  to  widen  the  breach 
between  Ayrippina  and  Tiberius,  and  stisp:c'ons  ot  her  kinsman 
were  artfully  distilled,  by  the  contrivance  of  Sejanns,  into  the  mind 
of  the  piincess.  She  became  possessed  of  the  idea  that  the 
Em|»eror  was  planning  to  poison  her,  and  when  she  was  invited  to 
sup  with  him,  she  absolutely  refused  to  partake  of  any  of  th  -  food 
that  was  presented  to  her.  This  undisguised  declaration  of  her 
suspicions  alienated  the  Emperor  still  more. 


SHOT.  III.— TIBERIUS  AT  CABBED.    INFLUENCE  OF  SEJANUS 
AND  HIS  FALL. 

§  15.  Hitherto  Tiberius  had  resided  continually  at  Rome,  and 
devoted  himself  assiduously  to  the  conduct  of  affairs.  He  had  con- 
stantly talked  of  visiting  the  provinces,  and  even  made  the 
preliminary  arrangements  for  the  journey,  but  when  it  came  to  the 
point,  he  had  always  found  a  pretext  for  not  going.  He  never 
went  further  from  the  city  than  Antium.  But  as  he  grew  older — 
in  26  A.D.  he  had  reached  the  age  of  sixty-seven — his  reserve,  his 
distrust  of  his  fellow-creatures,  his  dislike  to  the  pomp  of  public  life, 
seem  to  have  incre  sed.  He  had  alway*  been  reserved,  sensitive,  and 
shy  ;  his  temper  had  been  soured  by  disapi -ointments,  bo  h  in  his 
early  life  and  in  his  recent  years.  His  unpopularity  in  Rome,  of 
which  he  was  fully  conscious,  may  have  irritated  him  more  as  he 
became  older;  and  his  domestic  life  was  full  of  worry,  with  Livia 
and  Li  villa  on  one  side,  and  Agiippina  on  the  other.  All  this 
might  be  enough  to  explain  the  motives  which  led  him  to  take  the 
momentous  step  of  abandoning  Rome  and  living  permanently  else- 
where. But  if  such  motives  operated,  thtir  effect  was  supported  by 
the  persuasions  of  the  favourite  Sejanus,  wlo  desired  nothing  better 
than  to  remove  the  Emj>eror  to  a  distance,  so  as  to  have  a  tree  scene 
for  his  own  plans.  It  is  possible,  however,  that  Tiberius  mny  have 
been  decided  by  a  political  motive.  He  may  have  wished  to  give 
Nero,  the  eldest  son  of  Germanicns,  an  opportunity  of  gradually 
undertaking  an  active  part  in  the  government,  and  assisting 
him  somewhat  as  he  had  himself  assisted  Augustus.  Silly  and 
malicious  stories  were  circuit  ted  by  the  Emperor's  enemies.  It 
was  said  that  he  souaht  a  jlice  of  concealment  for  the  practice  of 
licentiousness;  or  that  he  wished  to  hide  from  the  public  view  a 
face  and  figure  deformed  by  old  age. 


200  THE  PRINCIPATE  OF   TIBERIUS.      CHAP.  xm. 

He  left  Rome  (26  A.D.)  on  the  pretext  of  consecrating  a  temple 
of  Jupiter  it  Capua,  and  a  temple  of  Augustus  at  Nola,  recently 
built.  His  attendants  were  one  senator,  Cocceius  Nerva;  two 
kuights,  Sejanus  and  another;  and  some  men  of  science,  and 
astrologers.  During  the  Emperor's  progress  in  Campania,  an 
accident  happened,  which  increased  his  confidence  in  Sejanus. 
The  imperial  party  were  dining  at  a  country  house  called  the 
"  Cave  "  (Spelunca),  formed  of  a  natural  grotto,  between  the  gulf 
of  Amyclse  and  the  hills  of  Fundi.  The  rocks  at  the  entrance 
suddenly  fell  in  and  crushed  some  of  the  servants,  and  the  guests 
fled  in  panic.  Sejanus  placed  himself  in  front  of  the  Emperor,  and 
received  the  falling  stones.  This  incident  convinced  Tiberius  that 
his  prefect  was  a  man  who  had  no  care  for  himself. 

Having  dedicated  the  temples,  he  proceeded  to  the  little  island 
of  Caprese,  which  Augustus,  struck  by  its  salubrious  climate,  had 
purchased  from  the  people  of  Neapolis.  Lonely  and  difficult  to 
approach  by  its  precipitous  lime  cliffs,  yet  near  enough  to  the 
mainland,  this  island,  about  eleven  miles  in  circuit  and  rising 
at  either  end  to  higher  points  of  vantage,  was  an  attractive  retreat 
for  the  wearied  statesman.  Twelve  villas  were  built  by  Tiberius  in 
various  parts  of  the  island,  which  was  vigilantly  guarded  from 
intrusion.  But  while  his  subjects  thought  that  he  had  entirely 
relinquished  the  conduct  of  affairs  to  the  pratorian  prefect,  and 
was  spending  his  days  in  consultation  with  his  astrologers  or 
in  foul  debauchery,  Tiberius  still  bestowed  constant  attention  to 
the  details  of  public  business.*  But  he  no  longer  troubled  himself 
to  suppress  the  servility  of  the  senate,  or  to  check  the  abuses  of 
delation.  Many  innocent  men  were  betrayed  by  the  indefatigable 
informers,  and  the  senators  lived  in  fear  ai  d  peril  of  their  lives. 

§  16.  The  case  of  Titius  Sabinus,  a  Roman  knight,  who  was  tried 
and  put  to  death  in  28  A.D.,  was  an  episode  in  the  struggle  between 
Sejanus  and  the  party  of  Agrippina,  to  which  Sabinus  belonged. 
Sabinus,  who  had  been  a  friend  of  Germanicus,  had  made  him- 
self conspicuous  by  the  attention  which  he  paid  to  the  wife 
and  children  of  that  prince,  after  his  death.  Four  ex-prators,  who 
wished  to  obtain  the  consulship  and  sought  for  that  purpose  to 
ingratiate  themselves  with  Sejanus,  conceived  the  idea  that  the 
destruction  of  Sabinus  would  be  an  effectual  means  of  winning  the 
favourite's  favour.  Accordingly  they  laid  a  plot.  One  of  them, 
named  Latinius  Latiaris,  who  was  slightly  acquainted  with  Sabinus, 
entered  one  day  into  conversation  with  him,  praised  him  for  not 


•  Juvenal,  Sat.,  x.  91  (of  Sejanus)  : 

Tutor  baberi 
Principle   angusta    Caprearum    in    rupe 


sedentis 
Cum  grege  Chaldaeo. 


26  AD.  TIBERIUS   RETIRES   TO  CAPRE^B  201 

having  abandoned  the  house  of  Germanicus  in  the  hour  of  adversity, 
and  spoke  in  compassionate  terms  of  Agrippina.  Sabinus,  who  was 
of  a  soft  nature,  took  Latiaris  completely  into  his  confidence,  burst 
into  invectives  against  the  cruelty  of  Sejanus,  and  did  not  spare 
Tiberius  himself.  Several  treasonable  conversations  took  place,  but 
as  it  was  necessary  to  have  mure  witnesses,  and  as  Sabinus  would 
not  have  spoken  freely  in  the  presence  of  the  others,  the  three 
accomplices  hid  themselves  between  the  ceiling  and  the  roof  in  a 
room  in  the  house  of  Latiaris,  who  induced  Sabinus  to  visit  him 
there  on  the  plea  of  making  a  disclosure.  The  utterances  of  the 
entrapped  knight  on  this  occasion  were  quite  sufficient  for  his 
condemnation,  and  the  conspirators  immediately  dispatched  a 
letter  to  the  Emperor  informing  him  of  the  treason  of  Sabinus. 
Tiberius,  in  his  letter  to  the  senate  on  January  1st  (28  A,D.), 
mentioned  the  treasonable  designs  ol  Sabinus,  and  suggested  that  it 
might  be  well  to  punish  him.  The  senate  condemned  him  to  death 
without  hesitation  and  received  a  letter  of  thanks  from  Tiberius, 
hinting,  however,  that  he  still  apprehended  treachery,  but  without 
mentioning  names.  He  was  supposed  to  al'iule  to  Agrippina  and 
her  son  Nero. 

§  17.  The  year  29  A.D.  was  marked  by  the  death  of  Livia,  or,  as 
she  was  publicly  called,  Julia  Augusta,  at  the  age  of  eighty-six. 
Her  funeral  oration  was  pronounced  by  Gains,  the  thiid  son  of 
Agrippina,  then  in  his  seventeenth  year.  Tiberius  did  not  regret 
his  imperious  mother.  The  funeral  was  marked  by  little  ceremony  ; 
ilie  senate  was  forbidden  to  decree  her  divine  honours ;  her  will 
remained  long  unexecuted.  The  memory  of  Livia  has  been  much 
wronged  by  history.  The  consort  of  Augustus  is  forgotten  in  the 
mother  of  Tiberius ;  and  it  is  only  remembered  that  she  had  done 
much  to  raise  to  the  throne  an  unpopular  ruler,  whom  the  Romans 
cursed  as  a  tyrant.  There  is  reason  to  suppose,  however,  that  her 
influence,  exerted  in  the  interests  of  clemency,  sometimes  thwarted 
Sejanus,  and  it  is  worthy  of  notice  that  he  did  not  carry  out  his 
design  against  Agrippina  until  after  the  death  of  Livia.  It  has 
even  been  said  that  her  death  was  a  turning-point  m  the  reign.  Her 
friends,  who,  under  her  powerful  protection,  had  ventured  to  speak 
somewhat  boldly  against  the  Emperor,  were  persecuted  when  she 
died.  Conspicuous  a,mong  these  was  the  husband  of  the  Emperor's 
divorced  wife  Vipsania,  Asinius  Gallus,  who  was  confined  in  prison 
for  three  years  and  then  put  to  death. 

§  18.  The  body  of   Livia  had  not  been  long   bestowed  in    the 

mausoleum  of  Augustus,  when  the  senate  received  a  letter  from 

Tiberius,  containing  charges  against  Agrippina  and  Nero.     The  son 

was  charged  with  gross  licentiousness,  the  mother  with  insolence 

9* 


202  THE  PKINC1PATE   OF   TiBEKIUS.       CHAP.  xra. 

and  a  contumacious  spirit.  There  was  no  hint  of  disloyalty  or 
treason,  and  the  Etnporor  did  not  signify  what  he  wished  the 
senate  to  do.  The  people  assembled  outside  the  doors  of  the 
senate-house,  and  cried  that  the  letter  was  a  forgery,  hinting  that  it 
was  the  work  of  Sejanus,  and  bearing  aloft  the  images  of  Agrippina 
and  Nero.  A  second  message  soon  came  from  Capreae,  rebuking 
the  citizens  for  their  rebellious  behaviour,  and  urging  the  senate  to 
take  definite  action  on  the  charges  against  the  arcus  d.  The  servile 
senators  found  them  guilty,  and  they  were  banished  to  barren 
islands,  Agrippina  to  Pandateria  and  Nero  to  Pontia.  Agrippina's 
second  son  Drusus  still  remained,  but  his  fall,  too,  was  speedily 
contrived  by  Sejanus.  Just  as  he  had  seduced  Li  villa  to  compass 
the  death  of  the  elder  Drusus,  so  now  he  seduced  Lepida,  the  wife 
of  the  younger  Drusus,  and  suborned  her  to  calumniate  her  husband 
to  Tiberius.  Drusus,  who,  with  his  younger  brother  Gains,  lived 
at  Caprese,  was  sent  to  Rome,  as  a  mark  of  disgrace,  and  the  senate 
hastened  to  declare  him  a  public  enemy.  F«>r  the  right  of 
declaring  an  individual  a  public  enemy,  as  of  declaring  war,  still 
belonged  to  the  senate.  He  was  then  arrested  and  imprisoned  in 
the  palace. 

§  19.  The  power  of  Sejanus  had  now  reached  its  highest  point. 
He  was  regarded  with  greater  awe  than  the  Emperor  himself.  He 
seemed  t-»  be  the  true  sovran  and  Tiberius  the  mere  "  lord  of 
an  island"  (nvsiarcli)  Altars  were  raised  and  sacrifices  offered 
before  his  statues,  gnmes  were  voted  in  his  honour.  But  his  fall 
was  at  hand.  Tiberius  had  become  jealous  and  suspicious  of  the 
designs  of  his  minister ;  and  the  graver  his  suspicions  became,  the 
more  assiduously  did  he  seek  to  disguise  them  until  the  time 
should  come  for  the  final  blow.  He  loaded  the  prerect  with  honours. 
He  betrothed  him  to  his  granddaughter  Julia,  the  widow  of  Nero, 
who  had  died  in  exile  at  Pontia,  and  he  conferred  on  him  the 
honour  of  being  his  colleague  in  the  consulship.  This  honour  also 
furnished  him  with  a  pretext  of  ridding  himself  of  the  prefect's 
presence  at  Caprese.  Sejanus  wa>*  sent  to  Home  to  perform  the 
functions  of  the  consuls,  on  behalf  of  both  himself  and  Tiberius, 
and  he  was  received  with  abj  ct  flattery  by  senate  and  people. 
The  senate  decreed  the  consulate  to  him  along  with  Tiberius  for 
five  years,  and  he  was  disappointed  when  Tiberius  insisted  on 
resigning  it  in  the  fifth  month  (31  A.D.). 

The  messages,  wh'ch  from  time  to  time  arrived  from  Caprea3, 
were  uncertain  and  puzzling.  Tiber  us  intended  to  keep  Sejanus 
in  a  state  of  restless  uncertainty.  He  conferred  upon  him  the 
proconsular  p»wer  and  raised  him  to  the  dignity  of  a  priest,  but  at 
the  same  time  he  mentioned,  his  nephew  Gams  Caesar  with  great 


31  A.IX  FALL   OF   SEJANU8.  208 

favour,  and  conferred  a  priesthood  on  him  also.  Sejanus  felt 
uneasy,  and  besought  Tiberius  to  allow  him  to  return  to  Caprese,  to 
«ee  his  betrothed  bride,  who  was  ill.  The  request  was  reiusid,  on 
the  ground  that  the  Emperor  and  his  family  were  about  to  visit 
Rome.  In  a  letter  to  the  senate,  which  arrived  soon  after, 
"  Sejanus  "  was  mentioned  without  the  addition  of  his  titles,  and  it 
was  forbidden  to  yield  divine  honours  to  a  mortal.  Besides  this 
the  enemies  ol' the  prefect  were  1 1 eated  with  favour.  The»>e  things 
seemed  to  forebode  disgrace,  and  Sejnnus  resolved  to  forestal  his  fall 
by  overthrowing  his  master.  A  conspiracy  was  formed  to  kill 
Tiberius  when  he  came  to  Rome,  but  Satrius  Secundus,  one  of  the 
conspiiators,  betrayed  the  plot  to  Antonia,  and  she  hastened  to 
reveal  it  to  her  brother-in-law. 

It  would  hardly  have  been  safe  to  denounce  openly  the  treason  of 
Sejanus.  To  strike  down  the  prefect  of  the  prastorian  guards 
required  caution  and  cunning.  Tiberius  selected  a  trusted  officer, 
Sertorius  Macro,  to  succeed  Sejanus  as  prefect,  and  instructed  him 
how  he  was  to  proceed.  When  Macro  reached  Home  (Otober  17) 
it  was  midnight.  He  immediately  sought  the  house  of  the  consul 
Memmius  Hegulus,  and,  having  revealed  the  purpose  of  his 
coming,  caused  him  to  summon  a  meeting  of  the  senate,  early  in 
the  morning,  in  the  teni|  le  of  Apollo  on  the  Palatine.  This  place 
of  meeting  was  perhaps  chosen,  in  order  that,  if  a  disturbance 
should  arise,  Drusus,  who  was  a  captive  in  the  adjoining  palace, 
might  readily  be  produced.  Macro  then  visited  Grsecinus  Laco,  the 
commander  of  the  cohortes  vigilum,  and  arranged  with  him  that  the 
approaches  to  the  temple  should  be  guarded.  In  the  morning,  as 
Sejanus  was  proceeding  to  the  senate,  attended  by  an  aimed  retinue, 
Macro  met  him  and  disarmed  his  suspicions  by  informing  him  that 
the  business  of  the  meeting  would  be  to  confer  the  tiibunician 
power  on  Sejanus  himself.  This  power  was  the  only  thing 
wanting  to  his  association  in  the  Empire,  and  Sejanus  thought  that 
his  highest  ambition  was  about  to  be  fulfilled.  When  Sejanus  hao 
entered  the  temple,  Macro  informed  the  praetorians  that  he  had 
been  appointed  their  new  prefect,  and  returned  with  them  to  their 
camp,  as  soon  as  he  had  given  the  Emperor's  letter  to  the  consuls. 

This  "great  wordy  epistle"  from  Capreas,*  which  sounded  the 
doom  of  Sejanus,  began  wi  h  some  remarks  on  general  matters,  and 
then  proceeded  to  a  slight  rebuke  of  Sejanus;  then  passed  to  some 
indifferent  matters  again,  and  finally  demanded  ihe  punishment  of 
Sejanus  himself  and  some  of  his  intimate  friends.  During  the  long 
recital  of  the  letter,  the  suspense  of  the  audience  was  intense,  for 

*  Verboea  et  grandls  epistola  venlt 
A  Caprels  (Juvenal,  x.  U> 


204  THE  PKINCIPATE  OF  TIBERIUS,      CHAP,  xnt 

none  knew  how  it  would  end.  Then  the  senators,  who  had  been 
heaping  Sejanus  with  congratulations,  left  his  side.  The  consul 
ordered  the  lictors  to  seize  him,  and  he  was  hurried  off'  to  prison. 
The  people  showed  how  much  they  rejoiced  in  the  fall  of  the  hated 
tyrant,  by  hurling  down  his  statues.  The  senate,  when  they  saw 
the  temper  of  the  populace,  and  as  the  praetorian  guards  did  not 
intervene,  met  at  a  later  hour  of  the  same  day  in  the  Temple  of 
Concord,  and  sentenced  Sejanus  to  death.  He  was  immediately 
strangled  in  the  prison,  and  his  corpse  was  dragged  by  the  execu- 
tioner's hook  to  the  Scalse  Gemonise,  according  to  the  usual  custom 
in  the  reign  of  Tiberius.*  His  death  was  followed  by  the  execution 
of  his  family  and  friends.  The  senate  decreed  that  a  statue  of 
Liberty  should  be  set  up  in  the  Forum,  and  that  the  anniversary 
of  the  traitor's  fall  should  be  solemnly  kept  as  a  day  of  deliverance. 

Tiberius  had  in  the  meantime  been  agitated  with  fear  and  sus- 
pense. He  had  a  fleet  in  waiting,  ready  to  bear  him  to  the  east,  in 
case  Macro  failed  in  the  enterprise,  and  he  posted  himself  on  the 
highest  cliff  of  the  island,  to  watch  for  the  appointed  signal  ot 
success  or  failure.  The  fall  of  Sejanus  was  a  relief  to  him,  but  it 
was  soon  followed  by  a  horrible  revelation.  Apicata,  the  divorced 
wife  of  the  fallen  prefect,  sent  to  Tiberius  a  full  account  of  the 
details  of  the  death  of  Drusus,  showing  how  it  had  been  com- 
passed by  Sejanus  and  Livilla  ;  and  having  revealed  this  long-kept 
secret,  she  put  an  end  to  her  life.  The  revelation  was  confirmed  by 
the  testimony  of  the  slaves  concerned  in  the  affair,  and  the  guilty 
Livilla  was  punished  with  death.  '  «••£ 

§  20.  The  overthrow  of  Sejanus  brought  no  alleviation  to  the 
miseries  of  Agrippina  in  her  island  or  her  son  Drusus  in  his 
prison.  It  is  not  clear  why  the  Emperor  determined  to  destroy 
Drusus ;  perhaps  he  thought  that  one  so  deeply  injured  would  be 
dangerous  if  released.  He  allowed  him  to  perish  by  starvation,  and 
then  wrote  a  letter  to  the  senate,  describing  minutely  the  manner 
of  his  death,  even  the  curses  which  in  his  last  moments  he  had 
vented  against  Tiberius  himself.  The  object  of  this  strange  com- 
munication, which  excited  the  horror  of  the  senators,  is  not 
evident ;  perhaps  it  was  intended  to  show  beyond  doubt  that 
Drusus  was  really  dead,  for  an  impostor,  pretending  to  be  Drusus, 
had  recently  created  some  disturbances  in  Greece  and  Asia.  The 
death  of  Agrippina  by  voluntary  abstinence  from  food  soon  followed 
that  of  her  son.  The  senate,  at  the  Emperor's  wish,  decreed  that 
her  birthday  should  be  ill-omened,  and  remarked  tdat  her  death 
took  place  on  the  anniversary  of  the  execution  of  Sejanus  (18th 
October,  33  A.D.).  The  bodies  of  her  and  her  children  were  not 

*  Juvenal,  x.  66  :  .Sejanus  ducitur  unco  Spectandu*. 


A.I). 


PROSECUTIONS. 


205 


admitted  to  the  mausoleum  of  the  family  until  the  reign  of  Gaiug, 
who  exhumed  them  from  the  lowly  tombs  in  which  they  had 
been  thrown. 

§  21.  The  prosecutions  of  those  who  were  supposed  to  have  been 
connected  with  the  conspiracy  of  Sejanus  were  protracted  over  a 
year,  but  at  length,  in  33  A.D.,  the  Emperor,  weary  of  the  pro- 
ceedings, issued  an  order  for  the  summary  execution  of  all  who 
were  still  detained  in  prison,  whether  men,  women,  or  children.  A 
certain  Marcus  Terentius,  who  was  impeached  in  the  senate  on  the 
ground  of  friendship  with  Sejanus,  is  reported  to  have  made  a  bold 
speech.  Others  had  repudiated  their  friendly  relations  with  the 
fallen  prelect,  but  he  candidly  acknowledged  that  "he  was  the 
friend  of  Sejanus,  had  eagerly  sought  to  be  such,  and  was  delighted 
when  he  succeeded."  "Do  not  think,  fathers,"  he  said,  "only  of 
the  last  day  of  Sejanus,  but  of  his  ^xteen  years  of  power.*  To  be 
known  even  to  his  freedmen  and  hall-porters  was  regarded  as  a 
distinction.  Let  plots  against  the  state,  conspiracies  for  the 
murder  of  the  Emperor,  be  punished;  but  as  to  friendship,  the 
same  issue  of  our  friendship  to  Sejanus  must  absolve  alike  you, 
Caesar,  and  us."  Terentius  was  saved  by  his  boldness,  and  his 
accusers  were  condemned  to  banishment  or  death,  according  to  the 
nature  of  their  previous  offences.  But  if  a  rare  senator  spoke  out 
boldly,  most  of  the  order  made  the  fall  of  the  minister  an  occasion 
for  ob-equiousness.  Some  went  so  far  in  their  proposals  that  they 
drew  upon  themselves  the  ridicule  or  severe  censure  of  Tiberius. 
Thus  Togonius  Gallus  begged  the  Emperor  to  choose  a  number  of 
senators,  of  whom  twenty  should  be  selected  by  lot  as  a  bodyguard 
whenever  he  entered  the  curia.  This  mnn  had  actually  taken 
seriously  a  letter  of  the  Emperor  asking  for  the  protection  of  a 
consul  from  Capreas  to  Home.  Tiberius,  who  had  a  fashion  of 
combining  jest  and  seriousness,  thanked  the  senators  for  their 
kindness,  but  suggested  several  difficulties.  WTho  were  to  be 
chosen?  Were  they  to  be  always  the  same?  Were  they  to  be 
men  who  had  held  office,  or  youths  ?  And  would  it  not  be  strange  to 
see  persons  taking  up  swords  on  the  threshold  of  the  senate-house  ? 
But  if  he  knew  how  to  answer  a  fool  according  to  his  folly,  he  could 
also  sharply  rebuke  an  impertinence.  Junius  Gallic  proposed  that 
the  praetorian  soldiers,  after  having  served  their  allotted  time, 
should  have  the  right  of  sitting  among  the  knights  in  the  fourteen 
rows  of  the  theatre.  Tiberius  asked  what  Tie  had  to  do  with  the 

*  The  power  and  fall  of  Sejanus  fur-  ingens 

nished  Juvenal  with  an  example  in  his  Sejanua:  deinde  ex  facie  toto  orbe 
satire  on  the  vanity  of  human  wishes.  secunda 

QV-  X.  62 :  Fiunt  urceoli  pelves  sartago  matelUe, 

4rdet  adoratum  popnlo  caput  et  crepat  and  the  whole  passage  to  line  107. 


206  THE  PR1NCIPATE  OF   TIBERIUS.      CHAP.  xm. 

praetorian  guards,  who  received  their  commands  and  their  rewards 
only  from  the  Imperator ;  and  suggested  that  Gallic  was  one  of  the 
satellites  of  Sejanus,  seeking  to  tamper  with  the  soldiery.  Gallic 
was  then,  in  return  for  his  flattery,  expelled  from  the  senate  and 
banished  from  Italy. 

Kecent  experiences  had  aggravated  the  Emperor's  suspicious 
nature.  He  became  more  difficult  of  access,  and  committed  many 
acts  of  cruelty.  His  faithful  adviser,  Cocceius  Nerva,  who  was  his 
companion  at  Caprere,  weary,  it  is  said,  of  seeing  the  harshness  ot 
his  sovran,  put  himself  to  death,  in  spite  of  the  prayers  and 
remonstrances  of  Tiberius.  Of  the  twenty  members  of  the  imperial 
consilium  there  soon  remained  only  two  or  three;  the  others  had 
been  the  victims  of  delation.  Public  report  ascnb'd  to  Tiberius  a 
life  of  bestial  debauchery  in  the  inaccessible  island,  and  the 
Parthian  king  actually  ad  Ires-ted  to  him  an  impertinent  re- 
buke for  his  licentious  habits,  and  called  upon  him  to  satisfy 
public  opinion  by  committing  suicide.  There  is  little  doubt  that 
Tiberius  lived  licentiously,  like  most  of  the  Roman  nobles  of  those 
days;  but  there  is  no  doubt  also  that  his  dissipations  have  been 
foully  exaggerated.  The  circumstance  that  his  life  was  prolonged 
to  nearly  four-score  years  without  medical  aid  is  enough  to  make  us 
hesitate  to  accept  the  stories  which  were  circulated  about  the  orgies 
of  Capreae. 


SECT.  IV.— PABTHIA  AND  THE  EASTERN  QUESTION. 

§  22.  Among  other  slanders,  it  was  said  that  Tiberius  in  his 
island  retreat  was  indifferent  to  the  government  of  the  Empire. 
The  rumour  seems  to  have  reached  the  Parthian  court  and  en- 
couraged the  Parthian  king  Artabanus  to  assume  a  hostile 
attitude.  The  peace  with  Parthia  was  undisturbed  until  the 
death  of  Artaxes,  king  of  Armenia,  about  34:  A.D.  Artabanus, 
elated  by  a  long  and  successful  rehn.  and  thinking  that  the  old 
Tiberius  would  not  be  likely  to  undertake  an  eastern  war,  seized 
the  opportunity  to  transfer  Armenia  from  dependence  on  Rome  to 
dependence  on  Parthia.  He  induced  the  Armenians  to  elect  his  son 
Arsacr-s  as  successor  of  Artaxes.  He  even  seerm  d  to  court  a  war 
with  Rome,  an- 1  addressed  insulting  letters  to  the  Emperor,  demand  ing 
the  inheritance  of  his  old  rival  Vonones,  who  had  died  in  Cilicia, 
insisting  on  the  old  boundaries  of  Macedonia  and  Persia,  and 
threatening  that  he  won!  1  seize  the  territories  possessed  long  ago 
by  Gyms  and  afterwards  bv  Alexander  the  Great.  Tiberius  was 
equal  to  the  emergency.  He  conferred  upon  Lucius  Vitellius,  an 
able  and  resolute  officer,  the  same  powers  which  he  had  before  con- 


34A.D.  THE  EASTERN   QUESTION.  207 

ferred  upon  bis  nephew  Germanieus,  and  sent  him  to  the  east,  with 
orders  to  cross  the  Euphrates,  at  the  h  ad  01  the  Syrian  Itgions,  if  it 
should  prove  needful.  At  the  same  time  he  set  up  a  rival  to 
Arsaces  in  the  person  of  Mitlira  'ates,  brother  of  Pharasmanes,  king 
of  the  Iherians;  and  stirred  up  both  the  Iberians  and  Albanians  to 
sup|>ort  his  claim  by  an  invasion  of  Armen'a.  Mir hra<' ates  gained 
possession  of  the  Armenian  capital,  Aitaxata,  and  his  rival  Ars>aces 
was  removed  by  poison.  King  Artabanus  then  sent  another  of  his 
sons,  Orodes,  to  take  the  place  of  Arsaces,  and  recover  Armenia,  but 
the  Parthian  cavalry  proved  no  match  lor  the  Caucasian  infantry 
and  the  Sarmatiau  mounted  archers,  which  supported  Pharasmanes 
and  Mithradates.  A  lively  description  of  the  warfare  has  come 
down  to  us.  Pharasmanes  challenged  Orodes  to  battle,  taunted 
him  when  fre  refu.-ed,  rode  up  to  the  Parthian  camp,  and  harassed 
their  foraging  parties.  The  Parthians  at  length  became  impatient, 
and  called  upon  their  prince  to  lead  them  to  battle.  In  the  fight 
which  ensued  every  variety  of  warfare  was  to  be  witnessed.  The 
Parthians,  accustomed  to  pursue  or  fly  with  equal  skill,  deployed 
their  cavalry  and  sought  scope  for  the  discharge  of  their  missiles. 
The  Sarmatians,  throwing  aside  their  bows,  which  at  a  shorter 
range  are  effective,  rushed  on  with  j-ikes  and  swords.  There  were 
alternate  advances  and  retreats,  then  close  fighting,  in  which,  breast 
to  breast,  with  the  clash  of  arms,  they  drove  back  the  foe  or  were 
themselves  repulsed.  The  Albanians  and  Iberians  f-eized  the  Par- 
thian riders,  and  hurled  them  from  their  horses.  The  Parthians 
were  thus  pressed  on  one  side  by  the  cavalry  on  the  heights,  on  the 
other  by  the  infantry  in  close  quarters.  The  leaders,  Pharas- 
manes and  Orodes,  were  conspicuous,  encouraging  the  brave, 
succouring  those  who  wavered;  and  at  length  recognising  each 
other  they  rushed  to  the  combat  on  galloping  chargers  and  with 
poised  javelins.  The  force  of  Pharasmanes  was  greater;  he 
pierced  the  helmet  of  the  foe.  But  he  was  hurried  onward  by 
his  horse,  and  before  he  could  repent  the  blow  with  deadlier 
effect,  Orodes  was  protected  by  his  guards.  But  the  rumour 
spread  among  the  Parthians  that  their  general  was  slain,  and 
they  yielded.* 

§  23.  Alter  the  ill-success  of  both  his  sons,  Artabanus  took  the 
field  himself.  It  was  now  the  moment  for  Vittllius  to  intervene. 
He  sethis  troops  in  motion,  and  threatened  to  invade  Mesopotamia. 
This  was  the  signal  for  the  outbreak  of  an  insurrection  which  had 
been  long  brewing  in  Parthia,  and  had  been  fomented  by  Roman 
intrigues.  The  Parthian  nobles,  dissatisfied  with  the  rule  of  the 
Scythian  Artabanus,  clamoured  for  the  restoration  or  a  true  Arsacid. 

*  The  above  description  of  the  battle  Is  a  free  translation  from  Tacitus,  vi.  34,  35. 


208  THE   PRINCIPATE   OF   TIBERIUS.       CHAP.  xin. 

There  was  still  a  surviving  son  of  Phraates  at  Rome  ;  and  a  section 
of  the  disaffected  Parthians  sent  a  secret  embassy  to  Tiberius, 
requesting  that  this  representative  of  the  house  of  Arsaces  should 
be  sent  to  the  east  as  a  claimant  to  the  Parthian  throne.  This 
suited  the  views  of  Tiberius,  and  he  acceded  to  the  request.  But 
the  candidate  for  sovranty  died  in  Syria,  and  Tiberius  then  chose 
Tiridates,  a  grandson  of  Phraates,  to  take  his  place.  The  appear- 
ance of  Vitellius  and  Tindates  in  the  Parthian  dominions  was 
attended  at  first  with  complete  success.  Sinnaces,  a  man  of  good 
family  and  great  wealth,  and  his  father  Abdageses,  were  the 
leaders  of  the  party  hostile  to  Artabanus,  which  was  largely  in- 
creased after  the  disasters  in  Armenia.  Artabanus  had  soon  found 
himself  deserted  except  by  a  few  foreigners,  and  was  compelled, 
in  order  to  save  his  life,  to  flee  into  exile  among  the  Scythians. 
Tiridates  then,  under  the  protection  of  Vitellius  and  the  Roman 
legions,  crossed  the  Euphrates  on  a  bridge  of  boats.  The  first 
Parthian  to  enter  the  camp  was  Ornospades,  formerly  a  Parthian 
exile,  who  had  been  made  a  Roman  citizen  in  recognition  of  aid 
which  he  had  given  to  Tiberius  in  the  Dalmatian  war,  and  sub- 
sequently returning  to  Parthia  had  been  received  into  favour  and 
appointed  governor  of  Mesopotamia.  Sinnaces  and  Abdageses 
arrived  soon  afterwards  with  the  royal  treasure.  Then  Vitellius, 
having  thus  given  Tiridates  a  start,  and  displayed  the  Roman 
eagles  beyond  the  Euphrates,  returned  with  his  army  to  Syria. 
Nicephorium,  Anthemusias,  and  other  towns  of  Greek  foundation, 
gladly  received  the  new  king,  expecting  him  to  be  a  good  ruler 
from  his  Roman  training.  The  enthusiasm  shown  by  the  powtrlul 
city  of  Seleucia,  which  had  preserved  intact  its  Greek  character 
under  Parthian  domination,  was  especially  encouraging.  But 
Tiridates  made  a  fatal  mistake  in  losing  time.  Instead  of  pressing 
forward  into  the  interior  of  the  country,  he  delayed  over  the  siege 
of  a  fortress  in  which  Artabanus  had  stored  away  his  treasures  and 
his  concubines.  In  the  meantime  quarrels  broke  out  among  his 
adherents,  some  of  whom,  jealous  of  the  influence  of  Abdageses,  and 
regarding  Tiridates  as  a  Roman  dependent,  decided  to  restore  Arta- 
banus. They  found  the  exiled  monarch  in  Hyrcania,  covered  with 
dirt  and  sustaining  life  by  his  bow.  At  first  he  thought  that  they 
intended  treachery,  but  when  he  was  assured  that  they  desired 
his  restoration,  he  hastily  raised  some  auxiliaries  in  Scythia,  and 
marched  against  Seleucia  with  a  large  force.  In  order  to  excite 
sympathy  he  retained  the  miserable  dress  which  he  had  worn  in 
his  exile.  The  party  of  Tiridates  retreated  into  Mesopotamia,  and 
soon  dispersed,  Tiridates  himself  returning  to  Syria  (36  A.D.),  and 
leaving  Artabanus  master  of  the  realm,  except  Seleucia,  which  was 


85  A.D.  QUESTION  OF  THE   SUCCESSION.  209 

strong  enough  to  hold  out.  Vitellius  again  threatened  Mesopotamia  ; 
but  the  restored  monarch  hastened  to  yield  to  the  Roman  demands, 
and  a  peace  was  concluded.  Artahanus  recognised  Mithradates  as 
king  of  Armenia,  while  the  Romans  undertook  not  to  support  the 
pretensions  of  Tiridates.  The  Parthian  king  also  did  homage  to 
the  imaiie  of  the  Roman  Emperor,  and  gave  up  his  son  Darius  as 
a 


'.  V.  —  LAST  DAYS  AND  DEATH  OF  TIBERIUS. 

§  24.  Tiberius  was  not  indifferent  to  the  selection  of  a 
successor,  though  he  is  reported  to  have  once  said,  quoting  the 
verse  of  a  Greek  poet,  "  When  I  am  dead,  let  earth  be  wrapt  in 
flame."  *  There  were  three  male  representatives  of  his  house  on 
whom  his  choice  might  fall.  There  was  his  nephew  Tiberius 
Claudius  Drusus,  the  youngest  son  of  the  elder  Drusus,  but  he  was 
considered  out  of  the  question,  as  being  of  weak  intellect.  There 
was  his  grand-nephew  Gains  (born  in  12  A.D,),  the  youngest  son  of 
Germanicus,  and  there  was  his  grandson  Tiberius  Gemellus  (born 
19  A.D.),  son  of  Drusus  and  Li  villa.  Between  these  two  the  choice 
was  practically  to  be  made.  The  Emperor  had  for  a  long  time 
slighted  Gaius,  as  being  a  son  of  Agrippina,  and  had  not  permitted 
him  to  assume  the  toga  virilis  until  his  nineteenth  year.  But 
Gaius  began  to  rise,  when  Sejanus  began  to  decline,  in  favour.  He 
carefully  dissembled  any  emotions  he  may  have  felt  at  the  fate 
of  his  mother  and  brothers;  and  the  people  looked  forward  witli 
satisfaction  to  a  son  of  Germanicus  on  the  throne.  On  the  other 
hand,  Tiberius  may  have  secretly  wished  for  the  succession  of  his 
grandson.  In  35  A.D.  he  made  a  will  leaving  Gaius  and  Gemellus 
joint  heirs  of  his  private  fortune,  and  this  was  equivalent  to  an 
expression  of  his  wish  that  they  should  be  joint  heirs  of  the  Empire. 
But  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  he  regarded  Gaius  as  his 
successor.  The  four  daughters  of  Germanicus  had  been  married 
to  men  of  note;  Agrippina,  of  whom  we  shall  hear  more,  to  Cn. 
Domitius  ;  Drusilla  to  Cassius  Longinus  ;  Julia,  to  Vinicius,  the 
patron  of  Velleius  Paterculus  the  historian;  and  a  fourth,  of 
unknown  name  to  the  son  of  Quintilius  Varus.  His  own  grand- 
daughter Julia,  the  widow  of  Nero,  and  the  betrothed  of  Sejanus, 
he  married  to  Rubellius  Blandus,  a  knight  of  obscure  origin. 

§  25.  The  praatorian  prefect  Macro,  who  now  partly  occupied  the 
place  which  Sejanus  had  formerly  held  at  Caprese,  saw  that  Gaiu? 


*  'E/uou   0ac6»"ros  yaia  mx^Toi   irvpi,  equivalent  to   the  expression  of  a  modem 
potentate,  "  After  me  the  deluge." 


210  THE  PBINCIPATE  OF  TIBERIUS.       CHAP.  xin. 

was  probably  destined  to  succeed,  and  sought  to  obtain  an 
ascendency  over  him  G-aius  had  lost  his  wife,  the  daughter  of 
M.  Junius  Silanus,  in  the  third  year  of  their  marriage,  and  Macro 
engaged  his  own  wife  Enuia  to  enthral  the  young  man  by  her  arts 
and  charms.  The  sh-irp  old  Emperor  observed  the  |  olicy  of  the 
prefect,  and  said  to  him,  "  You  leave  the  setting  sun,  to  court  the 
rising."  In  the  seveiity-eiglith  year  of  his  age,  in  the  fir>t  months 
of  37  A  D.,  Tiberius  quitted  his  i>land,  never  t- » return.  He  travelled 
slowly  towards  Rom«'  and  advanced  along  the  Appian  Way  within 
seven  miles  of  the  city.  He  gaze!  lor  the  last  time  at  the  tons  of 
the  distant  buildings  but  frightened  by  some  evil  omen,  turned 
back,  and  retraced  his  steps  southward.  He  was  fa'ling  fast.  At 
Circeii,  in  order  to  hide  his  we«kness,  he  presided  at  military 
exercises,  and  in  consequence  of  the  over-exertion  b  came  worse. 
He  tried  till  the  last  to  conceal  his  condition  from  those  who  were 
with  him,  and  his  physician  Chariules  had  to  resort  to  an  artifice  to 
feel  h's  pulse.  He  breathed,  his  last  in  the  viila  of  Lncullus  at 
Misenum,  on  March  16,  37  A.D.  It  was  whisper*  d  that  his  end 
w^s  hastened  by  Macro,  who,  seeing  him  bud.tenly  revive,  stifled 
him. 

§  26.  In  estimating  Tiberius,  we  must  take  into  account  the  cir- 
cumstances of  his  life,  and  a'so  the  character  of  the  witnesses  who 
have  recorded  his  rei^n.  A  CLiuilim,  bo  h  on  the  father's  and  on 
the  mo  her's  side,  descended  from  the  Neros  to  whom,  as  Horace 
sang,  Rome  owed  so  much,  he  had  all  the  pri<ie  of  his  patrician 
house.  He  was  strong,  tall,  well-made,  and  healthy,  with  a  fair 
complexion,  and  long  hair  profuse  at  the  back  of  his  head — a 
characteristic  of  the  Claudii.  HH  h-id  unusually  large  eyes,  and  a 
serious  expr  ssion.  In  his  youth  he  was  called  "  the  old  man,"  so 
thoughtful  was  he  and  slow  to  speak.  H  •  had  a  strong  sense  of 
duty,  and  a  profound  contempt  for  the  multitude.  The  spirit  of  his 
ancestress,  the  Claudia  who  uttered  the  wish  that  her  brother  were 
ali"e  ajcain,  t-»  lose  another  fleet  and  make  the  streets  of  Rome  less 
crowded,  had  iu  come  measure  descended  upon  Tiberius.  He 
was,  as  the  originally  Sabine  name  Nero  signified,  brave  and 
vigorous  ;  and  had  a  conspicuous  aptitude  fer  the  conduct  of  affairs. 
But  he  was  too  critical  to  have  implicit  confidence  in  h'mself ;  *  and 
he  was  suspicious  of  others.  His  sell-distrust  was  increased  Hy  the 
circumstances  of  his  early  m:mhood.  His  reserved  manner,  unlike 
the  geniality  »«f  h's  brother  Drusus,  could  not  win  the  affection  of 
his  stepfather  Augustus,  who  regarded  his  peculiarities  as  faults; 

*  This  feature  of  his  character— impor- I  callidum    eh»     ingentam,    it* 
t«nt  for  comprehen  ing  him— is  thus  Big-  |   indicium. 
nifto.i   by  Tacitus  (Annals,  i.   83):    Ut 


87  A.D.  DEATH   OF    T1BEKIU8  211 

and  when  he  was  young  enough  to  have  ambition,  he  was  nWe  use 
of  indeed,  but  he  never  enjoyed  Imperial  favour.  Kept,  when 
possible,  in  the  second  place,  he  was  always  meeting  rebuffs.  He 
was  forctd  to  divorce  Vipsania  and  marry  Julia,  who  brought  him 
nothing  but  shame.  Thus  the  circumstances  of  his  life,  and  his 
relations  to  his  stei  father  were  calculated  to  deepen  his  reserve,  to 
embitter  his  feelings,  and  produce  a  ha'it  of  dissimulation  ;  so  that 
there  is  little  wonder  that  a  man  of  his  cold,  diffident  nature, 
coming  to  the  throne  at  the  age  of  fifty-five,  should  not  have  won 
the  affections  of  subjects  whom  he  did  not  deign  to  conciliate.  All 
his  experiences  tended  to  d'jvelope  in  Tiberius  that  hard  spirit 
(rigor  animi},  so  clearly  stamped  on  his  natures  in  the  large  sitting 
statue  which  has  b<  en  pres-  rved.  On  the  other  hand  his  diffidence 
made  him  dependent  on  others,  first  on  Livia,  and  then  on  ISejanus, 
who  proved  his  evil  genius. 

In  regard  to  the  darker  fide  of  his  policy  as  a  ruler,  we  must 
remember  that  he  hud  undertaken  a  task  which  necess^rih  involved 
inconsistencies.  He  undertook  to  maintain  the  republican  disguise 
under  which  Augustus  had  veiled  the  monarchy.  The  w<aring 
of  a  mask  well  suited  his  r<  served  and  crafty  nature,  but  the 
success  of  this  pretence  dep  nded  lar  more  on  personal  qualities  than 
Tiberius  realised.  It  had  been  a  success  with  Augustus,  because 
he  was  popular  and  Menial.  It  was  a  failure  with  Tiberius  because 
he  n-as  just  the  opposite.  After  Tiberius,  the  mask  was  dropped. 
The  system  of  delation  and  the  law  of  maiestas  were  provided  by 
Tibi  rius  as  a  substitute  lor  the  popularity  which  had  shielded  his 
predecessor  from  conspiracy.  Owing  to  the  spread  of  delation,  the 
reign  ol  Tiherius  was  to  some  extent  a  reign  ol  terror.  Hardly  any 
important  works  of  liternture  were  produced,  for  men  did  not  care 
to  write  wh^n  thev  could  not  write  freely.  We  have  already  seen 
the  fate  of  the  historian  Cremutius  Cordus.  Two  other  historians 
whose  works  have  come  down  to  us,  escaped  censure  by  flattery, 
In  the  case  of  one,  the  flattery  was  pr-  bably  sincere.  VELLEIUS 
PATERCULUS,  whose  short  "  Roman  History"  in  t«o  Bonks  was 
pul-lifhed  in  30  A.D.,  had  served  under  Tiherius  in  the  Pannonian 
war,  and  af-erwards  risen  to  the  rank  of  quaestor,  and  then  of 
praetor.  He  had  conceived  a  deep  admiration  and  affection  for  his 
general,  and  lauds  him  with  extravagant  superlatives.  He  also 
speaks  in  very  high  terms  of  Sejan"S,  who  had  not  yet  fallen. 
VALERIUS  MAXIMUS  was  mor»j  clearly  a  time-server.  In  his  "  Nine 
Books  of  Memorable  Deeds  and  Words,"  a  coll*  c'ion  of  anecdotes  of 
Roman  history,  wr  tten  in  a  tasteless,  pretentious  style,  he  is  servile 
to  the  Emperor,  but  as  the  work  appeared  after  the  fall  of  Sejanus, 


212  THE  PRINCIPATE  OF   TIBERIUS.       CHAP,  xm, 

a  vehement  declamation  against  that  minister  is  introduced.  The 
Spaniard,  ANN^EUS  SENECA  of  Corduba,  not  to  be  confounded  with 
his  more  famous  son,  was  active  under  Tiberius  as  well  as  under 
Augustus.  He  wrote  a  history  extending  from  the  b<  ginning  of  the 
civil  wars  almost  to  the  day  of  his  death  (about  39  A.D.).  unfortu- 
nately not  preserved  ;  but  his  works  on  rhetorical  subjects  are  partly 
extant.  The  terror  of  delation  did  not  affect  jurists  like  MASUBIUS 
SABINUS,  men  of  science  like  CELSUS,  or  gastronomists  like  Aricius, 
owing  to  the  politically  indifferent  nature  of  their  subjects.  It  is 
not  easy  to  see  ^w  it  affected  poetry,  but  Virgil  and  Horace  had 
no  immediate  successors.  The  only  poetical  writer  of  the  rei<*n  was 
the  freedman  PH^EDRUS,  and  he  tells  us  that  he  was  persecuted. 
He  was  the  author  of  five  Books  of  ^Esopian  fables,  in  iambic 
trimeters.  POMPONIUS  SECUNDUS  wrote  tragedies,  but  perhaps  did 
not  publish  them  till  after  the  death  of  Tiberius.  The  Emperor 
was  himself  imbued  with  letters.  He  wrote  a  lyric  poem  on 
the  death  of  Lucius  Caesar,  and  Greek  verses  in  the  style  of  the 
Alexandrine  school.  He  also  wrote  memoirs  of  his  own  life.  He 
was  a  strict  purist  in  language,  and  icsolutely  refused  to  use  words 
borrowed  from  Greek. 

§  28.  This  negative  testimony  of  literature  shows  that  delation 
was  a  very  real  danger  and  that  the  government  of  Tiberius  was  in 
some  respects  tyrannical.  But  he  was  not  such  a  tyrant  as  he  has 
been  painted  by  the  later  writers  Tacitus  and  Suetonius.  Over 
against  the  dark  picture  of  Tacitus  we  must  set  the  opposite 
picture  of  the  inferior  artist  Velleius,  and  we  must  allow  for  the 
bias  of  both  authors.  We  must  remember  that  Velleius  had  seen 
Tiberius  at  his  best,  in  the  camp  conducting  a  campaign,  that  he 
received  promotion  from  him,  and  was  prejudiced  in  his  favour;  in 
addition  to  this,  he  was  writing  in  the  Emperor's  lifetime.  On 
the  other  hand  Tacitus  wrote  under  the  influence  of  a  reaction 
against  the  imperial  system,  and  he  lays  himself  out  to  blacken  the 
character  of  all  the  Emperors  prior  to  Nerva.  The  dark  character 
of  Tiberius,  and  a  certain  mystery  which  surrounded  his  acts  and 
motives,  lent  themselves  well  to  the  design  of  the  skilful  historian, 
who  gathered  up  and  did  not  disdain  to  record  all  sorts  of  popular 
rumours  and  stories  imputing  crime  to  the  exile  of  Capreaa.  Apart 
from  the  measures  which  he  adopted  for  his  own  safety,  or  at 
the  instigation  of  Sejanus,  and  which  mainly  concerned  his  own 
family  and  nobles  connected  with  them — apart  from  the  conse- 
quences ol  the  system  of  delation,  which  were  felt  almost  ex- 
clusively at  Rome — there  can  be  no  question  that  the  rule  of 
Tiberius  was  wise,  and  maintained  the  general  prosperity  of  the 


14-37  A.D. 


TACITUS  ON  TIBERIUS. 


213 


Empire.  Augustus  was  not  deceived,  when,  in  adopting  his  stepson 
into  the  Julian  family,  he  said  "  I  do  it  for  the  public  wellare ; " 
nor,  on  the  other  hand,  was  he  mistaken  when  he  prophetically 
pitied  the  fate  of  the  people  of  Rome  which  he  was  committing  to 
be  masticated  in  the  "  slow  jaws  "  of  his  adopted  son.* 

*  Miserum  populum  Romanum,  qui  sub  tarn  lent  is  maxillis  erit' 


Agrippina,  wife  of  Germanieus  (from  Statue  iu  tbe  Capitoline  Museum). 


Gaius  and  Drusilla  (from  cameo  in  Bibliotheque  National*  Paris). 
CHAPTER  XIV 

THE   PRTNCIPATE   OF  GAIUS   (CALIGULA)  (37-41   A.D.). 

§  1.  Claims  of  Gains  to  the  Principate.  He  is  accepted  by  the  senate. 
The  acts  of  Tiberius  are  not  confirmed,  his  will  is  annulled,  and  he  is 
not  deified  §  2.  Funeral  of  Tiberius.  Reaction  against  his  policy. 
Gaius  shows  respect  for  the  senate  and  piety  to  his  family.  §  3. 
Munificence  of  Gaius.  His  speech  in  the  senate.  §  4.  Early  life 
and  character  of  Gaius.  He  is  under  the  influence  of  Agrippa. 
§  5.  Illness  of  Gaius.  Sympathy  of  his  subjects.  Philo  quoted. 
Death  of  Tiberius  Gemellus.  §  6.  Pleasures  of  Gaius.  He  degrades 
his  dignity  in  the  circus.  §  7.  Sisters  and  wives  of  Gaius.  His 
oriental  ideas.  He  demands  divine  worship  and  professes  to  be  a 
god.  §  8.  His  architectural  extravagance.  The  bridge  of  ships  at 
Puteoli.  His  jealousy  of  great  names.  §  9.  Financial  difficulties 
drive  him  to  plunder  his  subjects.  §  10.  His  expedition  to  Gaul. 
Conspiracy  of  Lentulus  Gsetulicus.  Exile  of  the  Emperor's  sisters. 
Acts  of  Gaius  at  Lugudunum.  §  11.  Britannic  expedition.  His  return 
to  Rome.  §  V2.  The  reign  of  terror.  §  13.  Increased  taxation. 
Conspiracy  of  Chserea,  and  murder  of  Gaius.  §  14.  Policy  of 
Gaius  in  the  provinces  reactionary.  He  restores  client  kingdoms  in  the 
East,  but  annexes  the  kingdom  of  Mauretania.  §  15.  Refusal  of  the 
Jews  to  pay  him  divine  worship.  Embassies  from  Alexandria. 

SECT.  I. —  Popt'LAB  BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  REIGN  OF  GAIUS. 

§  1.  WE  have  seen  that  Tiberius  had  made  Gaius  and  Gemellus 
co-partners  in  the  inheritance  of  his  private  fortune,  thus  re- 
commending them  to  the  senate  and  people  as  co-partners  in  the 
Principate.  He  seems  to  have  intended  for  them  a  joint  rule  like 
that  which  Augustus  intended  for  his  grandchildren  Gaius  ant? 
Lucius  Caesar.  Perhaps  he  did  not  believe  that  such  a  rule  was 


87  A.D.  ACCESSION   OF  GAIUS.  21 6 

possible;  but  he  left  the  decision  to  fate.  The  power  and  the 
initiative  naturally  devolved  on  Gaius,  who  was  older  than  his 
cousin  by  seven  years  and  had  Already  entered  on  public  life.  He 
was  supported  by  the  favour  of  the  populace  and  the  strength  of 
the  praetorians  with  Macro  at  their  head;  so  that  his  succession 
seemtd  certain.  But  it  is  to  be  observed  that  from  a  constitutional 
point  of  view  Gaius  did  not  occupy  as  strong  a  position  on  ihe 
death  ot  Tiberius  as  Tiberius  had  occupied  on  the  death  of  Augustus. 
Tiberius  had  been  already  invested  with  the  tribunicinn  power  and 
the  most  important  of  the  imperial  prerogatives  during  the  lifetime 
>f  Augustus.  But  since  the  death  of  his  son  Drusus,  Tiberius 
had  not  moved  the  senate  to  confer  the  tribunician  power  on  any 
one;  and  Sejanus,  who  had  r«ceived  proconsular  power,  no  longer 
lived.  Gaius  was  not  in  any  sense  a  consors  imperil.  Hence  on 
the  death  of  Tiberius,  it  was  open  to  the  senate  to  elect  as  the  new 
Princeps  whomsoever  they  wished.  But  though  the  inheriting  of 
the  Empire  was  not  recognised  by  the  constitution,  it  was  generally 
felt  that  the  heir  of  the  Emperor  had  the  best  claim  to  succ  ed 
him  in  the  government  as  well  as  in  his  private  property.  Hence 
the  election  of  Gaius  was  taken  fur  granted  both  by  himself  and 
by  others. 

The  Emperor's  death  was  finally  announced  to  the  senate  in  a 
letter  from  Gaius,  conveyed  by  the  hand  of  Macro,  who  also 
brought  the  testament  of  Tibet ius,  in  which  Gaius  and  Gemellus 
were  appointed  co-heirs.  Gaius  asked  the  fathers  to  decree  to  the 
late  Emperor  a  public  funeral,  deification,  and  the  other  honours 
which  had  been  decreed  to  Augustus,  also  to  confirm  his  acts ;  but 
at  the  same  time  he  demanded  that  the  testament  should  be 
annulled.  Such  a  document  might  prove  inconvenient,  for  though 
legally  it  only  concerned  the  private  estate  cf  Tiberius,  it  mi^ht  be 
used  to  give  his  grandson  a  claim  to  participation  in  the  imperial 
power.  The  senate  acceded  to  the  wishes  of  the  candidate  for  the 
Empire,  whom  it  did  not  hesitate  to  elect.  The  tribunician  power 
and  all  the  functions  of  the  Empire  were  conferred  on  Gaius  Caesar* 
(March  18) ;  a  public  funeral,  but  not  deification,  was  decreed  to 
Tiberius  ;  and  his  will  was  annulled.  But  in  return  some  concessions 
were  required  from  Gaius,  He  adopted  his  cousin  Tiberius  Gemellus 
and  named  him  princess  iuventutis ;  and  he  gave  up  his  demand 
that  the  acts  of  his  predecessor  should  be  confirmed  by  the  senate. 
Tiberius  was  not  added  to  the  gods,  and  in  this  way  his  memory 
was  condemned. 

§  2.  The  accession  of  the  young  Emperor  was  hailed  by  the 
people  with  wild  delight  as  the  beginning  of  a  new  age.  They  had 
*  His  official  title  was  C.  Caesar  Augustas  Gernmnicus. 


216  THE  PRINCIPATE  OF   GAIUS.          CHAP.  xiv. 

received  the  news  of  the  death  of  Tiberius  with  a  savage  outburst 
of  hatred.  It  is  said  that  they  wished  to  drag  his  corpse  to  the 
river,  and  cried  Tiberium  in  Tiberim,  "  Tiberius  to  the  Tiber ! " 
After  years  of  fear,  sullenness,  and  gloom,  they  looked  forward  to 
an  age  of  merriment  and  pleasure — a  return  of  the  Augustan  era. 
The  procession  conveying  the  body  of  the  dead  Emperor  was 
conducted  by  his  successor  from  Misenum  to  Rome,  and  the  people 
poured  forth  to  meet  it,  forgetting  their  hatred  of  the  dead  tyrant 
in  their  joy  at  welcoming  the  new  sovran.  They  allowed  the 
funeral  solemnities  to  pass  over  quietly,  and  when  Gaius  had 
spoken  a  funeral  oration,  the  corpse  was  cremated  in  the  Campus 
Martins  and  the  ashes  placed  in  the  mausoleum. 

The  new  reign  was  inaugurated  by  a  reaction  against  the  policy 
of  the  preceding.  The  most  odious  delators  were  banished  from 
Italy;  all  prisoners  were  released;  all  exiles  recalled.  The  ex- 
tension of  the  law  of  maiestas  to  words  written  or  spoken  was 
done  away  with.  The  writings  of  Cremutius  Cordus  and  others, 
which  had  been  suppressed,  were  permitted  to  circulate  again ;  the 
Emperor  declaring  that  the  writing  and  reading  of  history  conduced 
to  the  interests  of  every  good  prince.  Gaius  also  annulled  the 
right  of  appeal  to  himself  from  the  tribunals  in  Rome,  Italy,  and 
the  senatorial  provinces.  He  endeavoured  to  make  a  strict  division 
between  the  functions  of  senate  and  Princeps  ;  and  he  followed  the 
example  of  Augustus,  neglected  by  Tiberius,  in  publishing  the 
accounts  of  the  state.  He  restored  to  the  comitia  the  election  of 
the  magistrates,  and  thus  showed  that  he  desired  to  maintain  the 
outward  form  of  a  republic.  But  this  change  was  soon  discovered 
to  be  useless,  for  as  the  number  of  candidates  seldom  exceeded  the 
number  of  vacant  places,  there  was  no  room  for  suffrage,  and  the 
comitia,  when  it  assembled,  found  that  it  had  nothing  to  do. 
Hence  after  two  years,  the  system  of  Tiberius  was  restored.  Gaius 
assisted  the  administration  of  justice  by  creating  a  fifth  decuria  of 
jurymen,  for  the  existing  number  was  found  to  be  unequal  to  the 
work  they  had  to  do.  It  was  composed  of  men  of  the  same 
qualification  as  those  who  filled  the  fourth  decuria,  created  by 
Augustus  (see  above,  Chap.  III.  §§  7,  8).  Gaius  also  conferred  the 
equus  publicus  on  a  large  number  of  persons,  because  the  equestrian 
order  had  been  greatly  reduced  in  number  in  the  reign  of  Tiberius, 
who  had  neglected  to  replenish  it  by  new  nominations. 

The  son  of  Germanicus  distinguished  himself  by  piety  to  his 
family  no  less  than  by  respect  to  the  senate.  When  he  had 
appeared  in  the  presence  of  the  fathers  and  won  their  goodwill  by 
a  plausible  and  submissive  speech,  he  hurried  in  person  to  the 
islands  where  his  mother  and  brother  had  been  banished  and  con- 


37  A.D          POPULARITY   OF   THE   NEW    REIGN.  217 

veyed  their  ashes  back  to  Rome,  to  be  deposited  in  the  mausoleum 
of  the  Caesars.  He  caused  the  senate  to  decree  to  his  grandmother 
Antonia  the  titles  and  honours  which  had  been  formerly  decreed  to 
Livia.  He  changed  the  name  of  the  month  September  to  Ger- 
manicus,  so  that  the  name  of  his  father  might  rank  in  the  Calendar 
beside  Julius  and  Augustus.  He  called  upon  his  uncle  Tiberius 
Claudius,  whose  existence  no  one  ever  seemed  to  remember,  and 
who  hitherto,  although  he  was  forty-six  years  of  age,  held  only 
equestrian  rank,  to  be  his  colleague  in  the  consulship,  on  which  he 
entered  on  July  1st  (37  A.D.).  His  sisters  Julia  Li  villa,  Agrippina, 
and  Drusilla  received  the  honours  of  Vestal  virgins.  Gaius 
himself  modestly  refused  the  title  Pater  Patrise,  which  the  senate 
offered  him. 

§  3.  How  popular  the  new  reign  was  with  the  multitude  is 
shown  by  the  immense  number  of  victims — one  hundred  and  sixty 
thousand — which  were  offered  in  thanksgiving  to  the  gods.  The 
citizens  and  the  soldiers  were  delighted  with  the  unbounded 
munificence  of  the  successor  of  the  frugal  Tiberius.  All  the 
legacies  and  donations  ordered  in  the  will  of  Tiberius  were  paid, 
although  that  deed  was  otherwise  annulled,  and  the  testament  of 
Livia,  which  Tiberius  had  neglected,  was  now  executed.  Besides 
this,  Gaius  distributed  to  the  plebs  the  donation,  which  should 
have  been  given  when  he  assumed  the  toga  virilis.  The  immense 
sums  which  lay  in  the  treasury,  heaped  together  by  the  saving 
policy  of  Tiberius,  enabled  him  to  defray  these  expenses  and  to 
enter  upon  a  course  of  reckless  profusion,  which  the  rabble  greeted 
with  applause.  At  the  same  time  he  reduced  his  revenue  by 
abolishing  the  small  tax  of  ^  per  cent,  on  sales  in  Italy. 

When  Gaius  assumed  the  consulship,  he  made  a  speech  to  the 
senate,  criticising  severely  the  acts  of  Tiberius  and  making  fair 
promises  for  his  own  future  government.  The  fathers  were  so 
pleased,  and  yet  so  afraid  that  he  would  alter  his  views,  that  they 
decreed  that  his  speech  should  be  read  aloud  every  year.  His 
exemplary  devotkm  to  his  duties  during  the  two  following  months 
seemed  to  augur  well  for  the  future.  But  on  the  last  day  of 
August,  which  was  his  birthday,  he  threw  aside  business,  and  gave 
a  magnificent  entertainment,  such  as  had  not  been  witnessed  for 
many  years.  On  this  occasion  he  consecrated  the  temple  of 
Augustus,  which  was  at  length  completed.  From  this  time  Gaius 
showed  the  world  a  new  side  of  his  character,  which  few  perhaps 
had  suspected.  He  plunged  into  a  mad  course  of  shameless  dissi- 
pation and  extravagance. 

§  4.  When  his  subjects  saluted  their  new  Emperor,  they  were 
quite  ignorant  what  manner  of  man  he  was.  In  his  personal 
10 


218  THE  PKINCIJPATE  Otf  GA1US.         CHAP.  xiv. 

appearance  there  was  nothing  to  attract.  His  figure  was  ill- 
p  oportioned,  his  eyes  set  deep  in  Ms  head,  his  features  pale;  and 
his  scowling  expression  srill  displeases  us  in  his  bust.*  His 
constitution  was  weak,  and  his  intellectual  capacity  was  small;  and 
whatever  intellect  he  possessed  had  never  heen  trained,  except  in 
rhetorical  exercise.  Want  of  training  in  his  youth  may  partly 
account  for  the  vagaries  of  his  manhood ;  but  there  is  no  duubt 
that  his  brain  was  affected.  He  was  subject  to  epileptic  fits,  and 
he  suffered  from  sleeplessness.  His  early  childhood  was  spent  in 
the  camp  on  the  Rhine;  his  next  expeiience  was  the  distre->sing 
circumstances  of  his  lather's  death.  Afterwards  he  was  detained 
under  the  watchful  eye  of  Tiberius  in  the  lonely  island,  where  he 
learned  to  dissemble,  natter  and  deceive.  It  is  said  that  Tiberius 
penetrated  the  real  character  of  the  crafty  boy,  and  made  the 
remark  that  Gains  lived  for  the  perdition  of  himself  and  all  men. 
All  the  tastes  of  this  degenerate  grandson  of  Drusus  were  vulgar  and 
vile.  He  cared  only  for  the  company  of  gladiators  and  dancers; 
he  took  delight  in  the  siuht  of  torture  and  death.  He  seems  to  have 
been  always  thoroughly  uiisound  in  mind,  and  when  the  unlimited 
power  of  the  sovran  of  the  Roman  Empire  was  placed  in  his  hands, 
his  head  was  completely  turned.  He  had  fallen  under  the  influence 
of  Heiod  Agrippa,  who  instilled  into  his  mind  oriental  ideas  as  to 
the  divine  nature  of  monarchy,  and  filled  his  head  with  dreams  of 
the  grandeur  of  eastern  kings.  This  Agiippa,  son  of  Aristobulus, 
was  grandson  of  Herod  the  Great,  and  had  come  to  Rome  along 
with  his  mother  Berenice  and  his  sister  Herodias,  after  the  death 
of  his  father.  Rome  was  at  this  time  an  asylum  for  the  members  of 
eastern  royal  families,  who  in  their  own  country  would  probably 
haveperishtd  by  the  hand  of  their  reigning  kinsmen.  Antonia, 
whose  father  had  been  a  friend  of  Herod,  been  me  the  protectress  of 
his  grandson,  and  the  \  oung  Agri,>pa  WPS  brought  up  in  the  company 
of  Claudius,  who  was  of  his  own  age.  When  his  uncle  Herod 
Antipas  (the  Herod  of  the  Gospels),  B.C.  4-A.D.  39,  who  married 
Herodias,  obtained  the  kingdom  of  Samaria,  Agrippa  was  invested 
with  the  governorship  of  the  city  of  Tiberias.  But  this  did  not 
satisfy  his  ambition.  He  returned  to  Rome  in  the  last  years  of 
Tiberius,  to  watch  for  an  opportunity  to  better  his  position.  He 
attached  himself  to  the  young  Gains,  whose  prospects  seemed  to 
be  bright,  and  obtained  a  great  influence  over  him.  Agrippa  was  a 
shrewd  and  energetic  man,  who  had  seen  a  great  deal  of  the  world; 
very  dissipated  and  unprincipled;  and  always  in  want  of  money. 
His  descriptions  of  oriental  magnificence,  his  pictures  of  the  omni- 
potence which  even  the  small.st  monarchs  in  the  east  possessed 
*  In  the  Capitoline  Museum. 


87A.D.  INFLUENCE  OF  HEROD   AGEIPPA.  219 

over  the  life  and  property  of  their  subjects,  his  lessons  perhaps  in 
the  voluptuousness  of  Asia,  produced  a  deep  and  dang<  rous  effect 
on  the  diseased  mind  and  sensual  nature  of  the  future  Emperor, 
^ome  had  been  threatened  with  the  introduction  of  oriental 
theories  by  Antmiius  ;  she  was  destined  to  experience  them  at  the 
caprice  of  his  great-grandson. 

§  5.  After  the  celebration  of  his  birthday,  the  Emperor  did  not 
resume  his  political  duties,  but  gave  himself  up  to  dissipation  and 
enjoyment,  and  from  this  time  to  the  end  of  his  reign  his  outy 
occupation  was  the  pursuit  of  pleasure  and  excitement.  Under 
the  first  wild  outburst  of  sensuality  his  weak  constitution  gave 
way  and  he  became  dangerously  ill.  The  general  distress  which 
was  then  felt  both  in  Rome  and  in  the  provinces  shows  how  popular 
he  was.  Philo,  a  Jew  of  Alexandria,  describes  the  prosperity  of 
;he  Eimire  at  the  beginning  of  his  reign  and  the  sympathy  which 
was  felt  at  his  illness.  The  passage  4°iserves  to  be  quoted:* 

"Who  was  not  amazed  and  delighted  at  beholding  Gaius  assnme 
the  government  of  the  Empire,  tranquil  and  well-ordered  as  it  was, 
fitted  and  compact  in  all  its  pa.ts,  north  and  south,  east  and 
west,  Greek  and  barbarian,  soldier  and  civilian,  all  combined 
tog-  ther  in  the  enjoyment  of  a  common  peace  and  prosperity  ?  It 
abounded  everywhere  in  accumulated  treasures  of  gold  and  silver, 
coin  and  plate ;  it  boasted  a  vast  force  both  of  horse  and  foot,  by 
land  and  by  sea,  and  its  resources  flowed,  as  it  were,  from  a 
perennial  fountain.  Nothing  was  to  be  seen  throughout  our  cities 
but  altars  and  sacrifices,  priests  clad  in  white  and  garlanded, 
the  joyous  ministers  of  the  general  mirth  ;  festivals  and  assemblies, 
musical  contests  and  horse-races,  nocturnal  revels,  amusements, 
recreations,  pleasures  of  every  kind  and  addressed  to  every  sense. 
The  rich  no  longer  lorded  it  over  the  poor,  the  strong  upon  the 
weak,  masters  upon  servants,  or  creditors  on  their  debtors;  the 
distinctions  of  classes  were  levelled  by  the  occasion ;  so  that  the 
Suturnian  age  of  the  poets  might  no  longer  be  regarded  as  a 
fiction,  so  nearly  was  it  revived  in  the  life  of  that  ha|  py  era." 
The  provinces  were  happy  for  seven  months;  then  the  news 
arrived  that  the  Emneror,  having  abandoned  himself  to  sensuality, 
had  fallen  grievously  sick,  and  was  in  great  danger.  "  When  the 
sad  news  was  spread  among  the  nations,  every  enjoyment  was  'A 
once  cast  aside,  every  city  and  house  was  clouded  with  sorrow  and 
dejection,  in  proportion  to  its  recent  hilarity.  All  parts  of  the 
world  sickened  with  Gaius,  and  were  more  sick  than  hp,  for  his  was 
the  sickness  of  the  body  only,  theirs  of  the  soul.  All  men  reflected 

*  The  translation  of  this  passage  is  borrowed,  with  modifications,  from  Mertvale 
(cap.  xlvil.). 


220  THE   PRINCIPATE   OF  GAIUS.         CHAP.  xiv. 

on  the  evils  of  anarchy,  its  wars,  famines,  and  devastations,  from 
which  they  foresaw  no  protection  but  in  the  Emperor's  recovery. 
But  as  soon  as  the  disease  began  to  abate,  the  rumour  swiftly 
reached  every  corner  of  the  empire,  and  universal  were  the  excite- 
ment and  anxiety  to  hear  it  from  day  to  day  confirmed.  The 
safety  of  the  prince  was  regarded  by  every  land  and  island  as 
identical  with  its  own.  Nor  was  a  single  country  ever  so  interested 
before  in  the  health  of  any  one  man  as  the  whole  world  then  was 
in  the  health  of  Gains." 

This  instructive  passage  of  an  Alexandrine  writer  of  that  day, 
shows  how  important  an  Emperor's  life  was  then  felt  to  be  for  the 
welfare  of  the  state.  Gains  recovered,  but  he  di»l  not  mend  his 
ways.  The  solicitude  of  the  citizens  and  the  provincials  impressed 
him  with  a  deeper  sense  than  ever  of  his  own  importance.  His 
first  act  was  to  remove  from  his  path  his  cousin  Gemellus,  who 
had  a  rival  claim  to  the  throne.  About  November,  37  A.D.,  the 
feeble  grandson  of  Tiberius  was  compelled  to  kill  himself.*  Macro 
the  praetorian  prefect  had  laid  Gains  under  such  great  obligations 
in  helping  him  to  secure  the  throne,  that  he  ventured  on  the 
indiscretion  of  sometimes  reminding  the  Emperor  of  his  duties. 
At  the  same  time  Ennia  pressed  her  lover  to  keep  his  promise  of 
marrying  her.  But  Gains  was  weary  of  the  wife,  and  impatient 
of  the  husband,  and  he  resolved  to  destroy  them  both.  Macro 
received  a  command  to  put  himself  to  death.  About  the  same 
time  Gaius  recalled  M.  Silanus,  the  father  of  his  first  wife,  who  was 
then  proconsul  of  Africa,  and  caused  him  to  be  executed.  These 
acts  may  be  regarded  as  the  turning-point  of  the  reign. 


SECT.    II. — EXTRAVAGANCE    AND    TYRANNY    OF    GAIUS.     His 

MURDER. 

§  6.  Feeling  himself'  superior  to  both  law  and  custom,  Gaius  did 
not  hesitate  to  parade  his  degraded  tastes  before  the  public,  and  to 
prostitute  the  imperial  dignity  in  a  way  which  would  have  seemed 
simply  inconceivable  to  Augustus  or  Tiberius.  He  took  a  keen 
delight  in  the  sports  of  the  circus  and  in  gladiatorial  shows,  and 
is  said  to  have  himself  sung  and  danced  in  public,  and  even 
descended  into  the  arena.  Knights  and  senators  were  compelled 
to  take  part  in  the  chariot-races.  Charioteering  became  a  sort  of 
political  institution  in  this  leign,  and  continued  to  be  so  until  the 


*  The  epitaph  of  this  boy  has  been 
found  near  the  hustum  Caesarum  in  the 
Campus  Martius: 
Ti.  Caesar  JJrusi  Cuesaris  f.  hie  situs  est. 


As  he  is  called  the  son  of  Drusus,  his 
adoption  by  Gaius  was  apparently  an- 
nulled  on  his  death. 


38  A.D. 


LICENTIOUSNESS  OF  GAIUS. 


221 


latest  days  of  the  Empire1.  There  were  four  rival  parties,  dis- 
tinguished by  colours,  the  green,  blue,  red,  and  white.  Grams 
favoured  the  green  faction,  and  built  a  special  place  of  exercise  for 
it.  But  the  gladiatorial  shows  were  the  special  delight  oi'  the 
Emperor.  He  removed  the  limitations  which  Augustus  had  set 
on  the  number  of  gladiators  ;  and  the  amphitheatre  of  Taurus  and 
the  Ssepta  in  the  Campus  Martius  were  constantly  filled  with  the 
rabble  and  the  court  witnessing  not  only  pairs  of  gladiators,  but 
the  battles  of  armed  bands.  Nobles  and  knights  were  forced  to 
fight,  as  well  as  slaves ;  for  all  his  fellow-citizens  were  his  slaves 
in  the  eyes  of  this  Princeps.  Combats  with  wild  beasts  were  also  a 
frequent  amusement.  One  wonders  that  the  higher  classes 
tolerated  this  juvenile  tyranny  and  such  shameless  degradation 
of  the  imperial  dignity  ;  but  they  seem  to  have  felt  it  as  a  change 
for  the  better  after  the  parsimony  and  austerity  of  the  preceding 
reign,  and  they  saw  that  the  new  fashion  of  things  was  popular 
with  the  rabble. 

§  7.  Gaius  is  said  to  have  lived  in  incestuous  connection  with  his 
three  sisters,*  and  though  this  charge  is  uncertain  in  regard  to 
Agrippina  and  Julia,  there  can  be  no  doubt  about  Drusilla,  of  whom 
he  was  very  fond.  He  had  separated  her  from  her  husband,  and 
lived  openly  with  her,  after  the  manner  of  the  Ptolemies  and  other 
oriental  potentates.  When  she  died  (July,  08  A.D.),  he  was  incon- 
solable. The  senate  decreed  her  the  honours  of  Li  via ;  her  statues 
were  placed  in  the  curia  and  in  the  temple  of  Venus ;  and  she  was 
deified  under  the  title  of  Panthea.  All  the  cities  of  the  Empiie 
were  commanded  to  worship  her.  During  his  principate,  Gaius  was 
married  three  times,  and  in  all  cases,  to  married  women  whom  he 
snatched  from  their  husbands.  The  first,  Orestilla,  wife  of  Cn. 
Piso,  was  soon  repudiated  for  the  sake  of  Lollia  Paulina,  the  wife  of 
Memmius  Regulns,  the  same  who  had  assisted  in  the  arrest  of 
Sejanus.  She  was  a  very  rich  lady,  and  her  wealth  was  probably 
her  chief  attraction  for  the  Emperor.  She  was  then  divorced  on  the 
ground  of  barrenness,  and  was  succeeded  by  Milonia  Csesonia,  to 
whom,  though  she  was  a  woman  of  plain  features,  the  Emperor 
seems  to  have  been  really  attached. 

As  time  went  on  and  Gaius  found  no  resistance  offered  to  his 
sovran  will,  as  he  saw  the  world  at  his  feet  and  men  of  all  classes 
content  to  be  his  slaves,  he  was  seized  with  the  idea  of  his  own 
godhead,  and  exacted  divine  worship.  The  oriental  notions  which 
he  learned  from  Agrippa,  an.l  the  deification  of  Julius  and  Augustus, 


*  He  caused  his  sisters  to  be  mentioned 
along  with  himself  in  the  military  oath ; 
and  the  formula  lor  the  relatio  of  ;t  ccnsul 


was  quod  bomim  felixque  sit  C.  ('nesari 
sororibnsque  eius. 


222  THE   PBINCIPATE   OF   GAJ.US.          OHAF.  auv. 

suggested  to  him  this  extravagance.  He  believed  that  nothing 
was  impossible  for  him  to  execute,  and  his  great  passion  was  to 
make  it  manifest  that  he  was  controlled  by  no  law,  and  not 
subject  to  ordinary  human  affections.  He  exulted  in  looking  on 
suffering  without  blenching.  He  regretted  that  his  reign  was  not 
marked  by  some  striking  disaster  such  as  the  defeat  of  the  Varian 
legions.  He  used  to  dress  himself  like  Bacchus  or  Hercules  or 
Venus,  and  play  the  part  of  these  deities  in  the  temples  before  an 
admiring  crowd.  He  pretended  to  converse  with  Jupiter  in  the 
temple  on  the  Capitol,  and  for  this  purpose,  in  order  to  have 
speedier  access  to  his  divine  kinsman,  he  caused  a  flying  bridge 
to  be  thrown  across  the  Velahrum,  reaching  from  the  Palatine  close 
to  the  newly  dedicated  temple  of  Augustus  to  the  Capitoline. 
Among  the  gods,  as  amon^  men,  he  claimed  to  be  pre-eminent;  he 
declared  that  he  was  the  Latian  Jupiter  ;  and  he  challenged,  with  a 
Homeric  verse,  Jupiter  Capitolinus  to  combat. 

§  8.  He  endeavoured  to  manifest  his  divine  nature  by  archi- 
tectural constructions  of  colossal  and  fantastic  designs.  He 
connected  the  imperial  palace  with  the  temple  of  Castor  in  the 
Forum,  perhaps  by  a  series  of  corridors  supported  on  a  bridge,  and 
thus  made  the  temple  the  vestibule  of  the  palace.  This  construc- 
tion has  disappeared  without  leaving  a  trace.  His  most  useful  work, 
was  the  aqueduct  conveying  to  Rome  the  waters  of  the  Aqua 
Claudia  and  the  Anio  Novus ;  but  this  he  was  unable  to  complete. 
He  planned  a  work,  which  has  been  often  designed  but  never 
executed,  the  making  of  a  cnnal  through  the  Isthmus  of  C  'rinth. 
His  most  during  construction  was  the  bridge  across  the  Gulf  of 
Baiae  (39  A.D.),  which  was  clearly  not  intended  to  be  permanent. 
A  soothsayer,  it  is  said,  had  prophesied  that  Gains  would  never 
become  Kmperor  any  more  than  he  would  drive  a  chariot  across  the 
Gulf  of  BaiaB.  Gaius  determined  to  drive  across  it,  attended  by  a 
whole  army.  Having  collected  all  the  ship-;  that  were  to  be  found 
in  all  the  havens  far  and  wide,  thus  impeding  the  regular  course  of 
commerce  and  causing  seriou-*  inconvenience,  he  d  ew  them  up  in 
double  line  from  Bauli  to  Puteoli.  On  this  bridge  of  ships  was 
placed  a  great  floor  of  timber,  which  was  covered  all  over  with  earth 
and  paved  like  a  high  road.  A  n  w  and  unheard  of  spectacle  was 
devised,  to  be  exhibited  on  this  structure  before  it  was  demolished, 
and  the  whole  shore  from  Misennm  to  Puteoli  was  crowded  with 
spectators.  The  Emp-  ror,  dressed  in  armour  which  had  been  worn 
by  Alexander  the  Great,  rode  at  the  head  of  a  band  of  soldiers, 
across  the  bridge  and  entered  Puteoli  a-<  a  conqueror.  Next 
morning  he  drove  back  in  a  triumphal  chariot  but  dressed  as  a 
charioteer  of  the  green  party.  He  halted  at  the  centre  of  the  bridge 


39  A.D.  FINANCIAL  DIFFICULTIES.  223 

and  made  a  speech.  A  banquet  followed,  which  lasted  till  late  in 
the  night,  and  the  whole  scene  \va*  illuminated  with  torches  on 
the  bridge  and  on  the  coast.  Intoxication  prevailed  and  many 
spectators  were  drowned. 

If  he  was  zealous  for  his  own  fame,  Gaius  was  jealous  of  the 
fame  of  others.  He  caused  the  statues  of  the  distinguished  men  of 
the  Kepublic,  which  Augustus  had  set  up  in  the  Campus,  to  be 
broken  hi  pieces.  He  forbade  the  last  descendant  of  the  Pompeys 
to  bear  the  name  Magnus.  He  commanded  the  works  of  Virgil  and 
Livy  to  be  removed  from  the  libraries,  on  the  ground  that  Viigil  had 
no  genius,  and  that  Livy  was  careless.  He  would  not  permit  the 
image  of  his  own  ancestor  Agrippa  to  be  placed  beside  that  of 
Augustus ;  he  even  repudiated  his  grandfather,  and  gave  out  that 
he  was  the  grandson  of  Augustus  and  Julia,  living  in  incest  like  the 
gods. 

§  9.  The  extravagances  of  Gaius  at  last  plunged  him  into 
financial  difficulties.  He  exhausted  the  large  treasures  accumulated 
by  Tiberius,  and  in  order  to  refill  his  empty  purse,  he  began  to 
persecute  the  nobles,  and  confiscate  the  property  of  the  rich. 
Hitherto,  he  had  steadfastly  and  vehemently  denounced  all  the 
works  of  Tiberius,  but,  pressed  by  want  of  gold,  he  did  not  hesitate 
to  revive  the  law  of  treason  and  the  .system  of  delation,  in  order  to 
plunder  his  fellow-citizens. 

Appearing  in  the  senate,  he  openly  praised  the  policy  of  his 
predecessor,  and  announced  the  revival  of  the  laws  of  maiestas. 
The  senate  thanked  the  Emperor  for  his  clemency  in  permitting 
them  to  live,  and  decreed  him  special  honours.  Many  rich 
senators  were  sacrificed  to  appease  the  Emperor's  cuj  idity. 
L.  Annaens  Seneca  only  escaped  because  his  declining  age  pro- 
mised that  his  wealth  would  soon  fall  into  the  imperial  coffers 
without  prosecuting  him.  The  noble  exiles  in  the  islands  were 
put  to  death,  and  their  fortunes  confiscated.  But  Ga'us  ultimately 
alienated  not  only  the  senate,  but  the  people,  by  imposing  new 
taxes  which  affected  Italy  and  Rome,  and  the  soldiers,  by  rescind- 
ing tl>eir  wills. 

§  10.  But  before  he  went  so  far  as  to  tax  the  citizens  of  Rome 
(41  A.D.),  he  had  plundered  Gaul.  In  September,  39  A.D  ,  he 
announced  that  hostilities  of  the  Germans  required  his  presence 
on  the  Rhine,  and  proceeded  thither  with  a  retinue  of  dancers  and 
gladiators.  Lentulus  Gaatulicns,  a  son-in-law  of  Scjanus,  had  b«  en 
now  for  ten  years  the  commander  of  the  legions  of  the  Upper  Rhine. 
Before  the  death  of  Tiberius,  he  had  b.  en  accused  of  having  relaxed 
the  discipline  of  the  camp  in  order  to  win  the  favour  of  his  soldiers. 
When  he  was  threatened  by  disgrace,  he  boldly  defied  the  Emperor  tc 


224 


THE   PRINCIPATE   OF  GAIUS 


CHAP.  xiv. 


remove  him  from  the  governorship  of  Upper  Germany,  and  Tiberius 
had  left  him  where  he  was.  Perhaps  the  purpose  of  the  expedition 
of  Gaius  was  to  assert  the  imperial  authority  over  this  independent 
le^atus,  and  restore  military  discipline.  It  is  certain  that  the 
barbarians  beyond  the  limes  were  at  this  time  troublesome,  and 
the  victory  which  Gaius  announced  to  the  senate  may  have  been 
warranted  by  a  real  repulse  inflicted  on  some  band  of  Germans 
attempting  to  invade  Gaul.*  At  this  time  a  conspiracy  was  formed, 
in  which  Lentulus  Gsetulicus  was  implicated.  The  object  of  the 
plot  was  to  slay  Gaius  and  place  M.  .ZEmilius  Lepidus  on  the 
throne.  Lepidus  had  been  a  favourite  of  the  Emperor  and  a 
companion  of  all  his  pleasures.  Gaius  had  given  him  in  marriage 
his  favourite  sister,  the  unfortunate  Drusilla,  and  had  intended  to 
designate  him  as  successor  to  the  Empire.  The  surviving  sisters 
of  Gaius,  Agrippina  and  Julia,  intrigued  with  Lepidus,  and  took 
part  in  this  treasonable  plot,  which  was  discovered  in  October, 
39  A.D.  Gsetulicus  and  Lepidus  were  executed,  and  the  two 
women  were  banished.  Gaius  sent  a  full  account  of  their  adultery 
and  treason  to  the  senate,  and  asked  the  fathers  to  confer  no 
distinctions  on  his  kinsfolk  for  the  future.  He  also  sent  three 
swords,  destined  for  his  assassination,  to  be  dedicated  as  votive  of- 
ferings to  Mars  Ultor.  To  till  the  place  of  Gastulicus,  he  appointed 
Lucius  Galba  (afterwards  Emperor),  who  enforced  and  restored 
disci pline  among  the  demoralized  legions. 

The  Emperor  spent  the  winter  at  Lugudunum,  where  he 
practised  every  device  for  extorting  money  from  the  inhabitants 
of  Gaul.  Prosecutions  and  executions  were  the  order  of  the  day. 
Auctions  were  held,  at  which  the  people  were  forced  to  buy  at 
extravagant  prices.  It  is  said,  that  furniture  of  the  imperial 
palace  was  conveyed  from  Rome  to  the  banks  of  the  Rhone,  and 
that  the  Emperor  himself  played  the  auctioneer,  recommending  each 
article  and  encouraging  the  bidding.  "  This  was  my  father's,"  he 
said,  "  this  my  great-grandfather's  ;  this  was  a  trophy  of  Augustus  ; 
this  an  Egyptian  rarity  of  Antony."  By  such  means  the  imperial 
coffers  were  enriched.  Lugudunum  also  witnessed  the  great-grand- 
son of  Augustus  mocking  the  celebration  of  the  ceremony  at  his 
Altar,  which  represented  the  union  of  the  Gallic  provinces.  Among 
the  contests  which  were  instituted  in  his  honour  were  competitions 
in  rhetoric  and  verse.  Gaius  compelled  the  unsuccessful  candidates 


*  Persius,  vi.  43 : 

Mis-a  cat  a  Caesare  laurus 
tnsignem  ob  cladem  Germanse  pubis  et  aris 
Frigidus  excutltur  cinis  ac  iam  postibus 

arma, 
Jam  chlaniydes  regum,  iam  lutea  gausapa 


captis 
Essedaque     ingentesque    locat    Caesonia 

Rbenos. 

Tacitus  calls  the  Britannic  and  the 
Germanic  expeditions  "  Galanarum  ex. 
peditionum  ludibriuua." 


40  AA  GAIUS  IN  GAUL.  225 

to  wipe  out  what  they  had  written  with  their  tongues,  undei 
penalty  of  being  cast  into  the  river. 

§  11.  On  January  1,  40  A.D.,  he  assumed  the  consulship  for  the 
third  time,  but  resigned  it  on  the  twelfth  day.  As  his  destined 
colleague  had  died  before  the  end  of  the  year,  and  the  senate  was 
afraid  to  nominate  anyone  in  his  place  without  the  imperial 
sanction,  the  Emperor  was  sole  consul  during  the  short  period  of 
his  office.  In  spring,  he  advanced  northward  from  Lugudunum 
to  the  shores  of  the  ocean,  in  order  to  achieve  the  work  which  his 
greater  namesake  had  attempted,  the  conquest  of  Britain.  This 
project  was  suggested  to  him  by  Adminius,  a  fugitive  prince  of 
that  island,  who  had  sought  retuge  with  the  Romans.  The  large 
army  which  Gaius  had  collected  reached  the  Bononia*  of  the 
north — otherwise  called  Gesoriacum — expecting  to  take  ship  there ; 
but  one  day  they  were  ordered  to  form  in  line  along  the  shore, 
in  full  battle  array,  and  Gaius,  who  reviewed  his  troops  from  a 
trireme,  suddenly  issued  a  command  to  pile  arms  and  pick  shells. 
The  soldiers  filled  their  helmets  with  the  shells,  which  were  regarded 
as  spoils  of  the  sea,  and  sent  to  Kome  in  token  of  the  great  victory 
won  by  the  Emperor  over  the  ocean  and  the  island  of  the  ocean. 
It  is  quite  conceivable  that  this  extraordinary  caricature  of  a 
British  expedition  was  actually  enacted  by  the  eccentric  Emperor; 
but  it  is  also  possible  that  the  story  may  be  a  fictitious  parody  of  a 
genuine  expedition  which  came  to  nothing. 

Before  he  returned  to  Home,  in  order  to  celebrate  there  with 
unheard  of  magnificence  a  triumph  for  his  warlike  exploits,  Gaius 
visited  Castra  Vetera  and  Oppidum  Ubiorum  on  the  Lower  Rhine; 
and  report  said  that  he  conceived  the  monstrous  idea  of  decimating 
those  troops,  who,  twenty-five  years  ago,  had  by  their  mutiny 
caused  the  flight  of  his  mother  Agrippina,  when  he  was  an  infant 
in  her  arms.f  The  tale  probably  rests  on  some  jest  which  the 
Emperor  let  fall,  in  his  bantering  manner,  ai'd  which  was  taken  up 
as  serious.  His  entry  into  Kome  (August  31,  40  A.D.)  took  the 
form  of  an  ovation,  not  a  triumph  as  he  proposed.  For  the  senate, 
uncertain  what  his  real  wishes  were,  had  not  ventured  to  decree  him 
a  triumph  until  the  last  moment ;  and  Gains,  filled  with  resentment, 
refused  their  tardy  offer.  "  I  am  coming,"  he  said,  "  but  not  for  the 
senate,  1  am  coming  for  the  knights  and  people,  who  alone  deserve 
my  presence.  For  the  senate,  I  will  be  neither  prince  nor  a  citizen, 
but  an  Imperator  and  a  conqueror." 

§  12.  From  the  moment  of  his  return  the  Emperor  threw  off  all 
the  remaining  disguises  which  cloaked  the  monarchy,  and  all  the 

*  The  northern  Bononia  is  now  Boulogne,  I      f  See  above  Chap.  XII.  $  8. 
ae  the  southern  Bononia  is  Bologna. 
10* 


226  THE  PKINCIPATE  OF  GAIUS.        CHAP.  xiv. 

fictions  of  liberty.  He  appeared  in  the  undisguised  character  of  an 
eastern  autocrat.  Instead  of  entering  Rome  as  a  citizen,  he 
entered  in  the  garb  of  an  imperator;  and  it  it  said  that  he  would 
have  assumed  the  diadem,  if  he  had  not  thought  himself  superior 
to  the  kings  of  the  east  who  wore  it.  The  cruelties  and  excesses 
of  the  new  tyranny,  which  exceeded  what  had  been  hither- 
to experienced,  necessarily  led  to  conspiracies.  A  plot,  in  which 
Anicius  Cerealis,  who  will  meet  us  again  in  a  subsequent' 
piincipate,  took  part,  was  detected,  and  the  senate  decreed  that  the 
Emperor  should  occupy  a  seat  in  the  curia,  elevated  so  high  that 
no  conspirator  could  reach  him.  Fear  of  his  life  made  Gains 
doubly  cruel,  and  yet  the  nobles,  instead  of  striking  a  blow  for 
their  fivedom,  tried  to  save  themselves  by  servility  to  the  worth- 
less favourites  and  delators.  Such  was  the  freerlman  Protoo;enes, 
who  carried  about  with  him  two  tablets  calU-d  Sword  and  Dagger, 
on  which  the  names  were  inscribed  of  those  who  were  marked  out 
for  death  by  execution  or  assassination.  To  what  a  pass  the  spirit 
of  the  senate  had  descended  is  illustrated  by  the  fate  of  Scriboiiius 
Proculus.  One  day  when  Protogenes  entered  the  curia  and  the 
senators  pressed  forward  to  shake  hands  with  him,  he  cried  to  Pro- 
culus who  was  among  them,  '*  What !  darest  thou,  the  enemy  of 
Caesar,  to  salute  me?"  The  word  was  hardly  spoken  when  the 
Fathers  fell  upon  their  brother  senator,  and  stabbed  him  to  death 
with  their  styles.  From  such  men  the  tyrant  thought  he  had  little 
to  fear. 

§  13.  Financial  difficulties  drove  the  Emperor  at  length  into 
imposing  a  number  of  new  taxes  on  Italy  and  Rome,  and  these 
measures  deprived  him  of  any  vestige  of  popularity  that  he  still 
enjoyed  with  the  populace  on  account  of  the  shows  with  which  he 
amus'  d  them.  In  January,  41  A.D.,  he  imposed  a  tax  on  imj  orts 
at  the  Italian  harbours,  and  at  the  gates  of  the  Italian  cities,  in- 
cluding Rome.  He  ordained  a  fee  of  2£  per  cent,  for  persons 
suing  in  the  courts  of  law.  He  established  an  income  tax,  which 
was  levied  even  on  prostitutes.  He  seems  to  have  nlso  resorted  to 
the  device  of  debasing  the  currency.*  A  feeling  of  hostility  grew 
up  between  the  people  and  the'r  ruler ;  and  it  is  said  that  Gains, 
disgusted  at  the  symptoms  of  his  unpopularity,  expressed  the  wish, 
"  Would  that  the  Roman  people  had  only  one  neck  I* 

But  from  these  new  imposts  men  had  not  long  to  suffer.  A 
conspiracy  was  formed  among  the  pra?t"rian  officers,  in  which 
Cassias  Chserea,  who  owed  a  |  ersonal  grudge  to  the  Emperor,  and 
Sabinus,  both  tribunes  of  the  praetorian  guards,  took  the  most 
active  part.  L.  Annius  Vinicianus  and  some  of  the  imperial 
*  Statins.  SUv.  iv.  9.  22 :  Emptum  plus  minus  asse  Qalaoo 


41   A.D.  MURDER   OF   GAIUS  227 

freedmen  were  also  implicated.  The  blow  was  itruck  on  the 
24th  of  January  (41  A.D.)  just  as  Gaius  was  making  prepara- 
tions for  a  campaign  of  extortion  in  the  rich  province  of  Egypt. 
The  assassination  was  accomplished  by  Chserea  and  his  fellows  in 
the  vaulted  corridor  which  connected  the  palace  with  the  Circus 
Maximus,  through  which  Gaius  was  passing  to  see  the  horse-races. 
The  conspirators  succeeded  in  escaping  from  the  swords  of  the 
German  bodyguards,  and  the  corp  e  of  Gains  was  hastily  interred 
in  the  Lamian  gardens.  At  a  later  period  it  was  exhumed  and 
cremated  by  the  sisters  whom  he  had  banished.  At  his  death 
Gaius  was  only  thirty  years  old. 


SECT.  III. — PROVINCIAL  GOVERNMENT.    THE  JEWS. 

§  14.  If  the  ]  rincipate  of  Gaius  was  a  reaction  on  that  of 
Tiberias  in  domes' ic  policy,  so  too  in  provincial  affairs  he  aimed  at 
altering  the  arrangements  of  h  s  predecessor.  Tiberius  had  deposed 
Antiochus  of  Commagene,  and  made  that  district  a  province  ;  Gaius 
restored  it  to  the  deposed  king's  son,  Antiochus  IV.  Epiphanes 
Magnus,  increased  it  by  the  Cilician  coast,  and  restored  100,00  ,000 
sesterces,  the  confiscated  property  of  his  father.  Agrippa,  whom 
Tiberius  bad  imprisoned,  received  the  tetrarchy*  of  his  uncle, 
Philip  IIM  who  had  recently  died,  and  in  addition  Abilene.  Two 
years  later,  he  induced  the  Kmperor  to  deposs  Antipas  and  his  wife 
Herodias,  the  rulers  of  Samaria,  and  send  them  into  exile,  on  the 
ground  of  treason.  Samaria  was  given  to  Agrippa,  who  thus  united 
under  his  sceptre  the  lands  which  had  formed  the  kingdom  of 
Herod  the  Great,  with  the  exception  of  the  province  Judea.  In 
Thrace  a  Roman  officer  had  governed  the  inheritance  of  Cotys 
since  19  A.r>.  Gaius  restored  it  to  Rhcemetalces,  son  of  Cotys, 
and  increas-H  the  realm  by  the  rest  of  Thrace,  which  had  belonged 
to  another  Rhcemetalces,  the  son  of  Khascnporis.  The  younger 
brothers  of  the  restored  Rhoemetalces  had  been  brought  up  with 
Gaius  himself  in  Italy,  and  were  related  through  their  mother 
A'.tonia  Tn  pliaina  with  his  own  grandmother  Antonia.  He  there- 
fore provided  them  also  with  kingdoms.  To  Polemo  he  gave  Pontus 
Polemoniacns,  and  to  Cotys  Lesser  Armenia.  Another, appoint- 
ment made  by  Gaius  at  the  same  time  (38  A.D.)  was  that  of  the 
Arabian  S<  agmus  to  the  throne  of  Iturasa. 

But  while  he  restored  dependent  kingdoms  in  the  east,  he  pulled 

down    a    de|  e  dent  kingdom   in    the   west.      Ptolemy,   king  ol 

Manretan  a,  was  summoned  to  Rome  and  executed,  in  order  that 

his  treasures  might  replenish  the  Emperor's  coffers.     It  was  con- 

*  See  above,  Chap.  VII.  0  T. 


228  THE  PRINCIPATE   OF  GAIUS.         CHAP,  xiv 

templated  to  divide  Mauretania  into  two  provinces,  Ccesariensis 
and  Tingitana ;  and  this  arrangement  was  afterwards  carried  out. 
Grains  also  made  an  administrative  change  in  the  neighbouring 
provinces  of  Africa  and  Numidia.  Africa  was  the  only  senatorial 
province  in  which  a  legion  was  stationed  under  the  command  of 
the  governor.  Gaius  removed  this  anomaly  by  consigning  the 
legion  to  an  imperial  legatus,  who  was  also  entrusted  with  civil 
functions  in  Numidia,  while  the  powers  of  the  proconsul  were 
confined  to  the  administration  of  civil  affairs  in  Africa  Vetus. 

§  15.  The  claim  of  the  Ernperor  to  receive  adoration  as  a  god  led 
to  disturbances  among  the  Jews, 'both  in  Judea  and  at  Alexandria. 
In  38  B.C.  Herod  Agrippa  visited  Alexandria  on  the  way  to  his 
new  kingdom.  His  appearance  in  the  streets  in  royal  state  led  to 
an  anti-Jewish  demonstration  among  the  non- Jewish  population; 
and  the  prefect  of  Egypt  Avillius  Flaccus,  with  a  zeal  which 
proved  unlucky  for  himself,  seized  the  opportunity  to  re  mire  that 
the  Jews,  whom  they  detested,  should  set  up  statues  of  the  Emperor 
in  their  synagogues.  When  the  Jews  refused  to  submit  to  such 
an  abomination,  their  fellow-citizens  drove  them  into  one  quarter 
of  the  town,  and  destroyed  their  dwellings  throughout  the  rest. 
Many  of  them  were  slain  in  the  tumult.  But  Flaccus,  who  had  also 
issued  an  edict  forbidding  the  Jews  to  keep  the  Sabbath,  paid  the 
penalty  of  his  wrong-doing.  He  was  immediately  superseded,  and 
sent  as  a  prisoner  to  Rome  by  Bassus,  who  succeeded  him.  The 
Jews,  however,  had  only  a  short  respite.  When  Gaius  began  to 
claim  divine  worship  from  all  his  subjects,  he  would  not  brook  the 
solitary  refusal  of  the  Jews.  It  was  expected  that  a  decree  would 
go  forth,  ordaining  that  the  imperial  image  should  be  set  up  in  all 
synagogues ;  and  with  a  view  to  avert,  if  possible,  such  a  calamity, 
the  Jews  of  Alexandria  sent  an  embassy  to  appeal  directly  to  the 
Emperor  (40  A.D.).  The  details  of  this  embassy  have  come  down 
to  us  from  the  pen  of  the  most  distinguished  of  the  ambassadors, 
the  learned  philosopher  Philo.  At  the  same  time  the  Alexan- 
drians sent  a  counter-embassy  to  thwart  the  Jews.  When  they 
arrived  on  the  coast  of  Campania,  the  tidings  met  them  that 
orders  had  just  been  issued  to  Petronius,  the  governor  of  Judea,  to 
set  up  a  colossal  statue  of  the  Emperor  in  the  Holy  of  Holies  at 
Jerusalem.  Gaius  was  at  this  time  engaged  in  transforming  the 
house  and  gardens  of  the  Lamias  into  a  royal  residence,  and  the  rival 
embassies  from  Alexandria  were  summoned  thither.  They  found 
him  hurrying;  about  from  room  to  room,  surrounded  by  architects 
and  workmen,  to  whom  he  was  iiivinj  directions,  and  th- y  were 
compelled  to  follow  in  his  train.  Stopping  to  address  the  Jews,  he 
asked,  "  Are  you  the  God-haters,  who  deny  my  divinity,  which  all 


10    A.D. 


JEWLSH    EMBASSY. 


229 


the  world  acknowledges  ? "  The  Alexandrian  envoys  hastened  to 
put  in  their  word,  "  Lord  and  master,  these  Jews  alone  have  refused 
to  sacrifice  for  your  safety."  "  Nay,  Lord  Gaius,"  said  the  Jews, 
"  it  is  a  slander.  We  sacrificed  for  you,  not  once,  but  thrice  ;  first 
when  you  assumed  the  empire,  then  when  you  recovered  from  your 
sickness,  and  again  for  your  success  against  the  Germans."  "  Yes," 
observed  Gaius,  "you  sacrificed  for  me,  not  to  me  ;  "  and  thereupon 
he  hurried  to  another  room,  the  Jews  trembling,  and  their  rivals 
jeering,  "  as  in  a  play."  The  next  remark  he  addressed  to  them 
was,  "Pray,  why  do  ye  not  eat  pork?"  Finally  he  dismissed 
them  with  the  observation,  "  Men  who  deem  me  no  god  are  after 
all  more  unlucky  than  guilty."  The  embassy  of  Philo  and  his 
fellows  was  a  failure.  Gaius  was  resolved  to  impose  his  worship 
on  the  Jews,  and  his  orders  to  Petronius  were  confirmed.  The 
"ebellion  of  Judea  seemed  inevitable,  when  the  death  of  the  mad 
tyrant  averted  the  sacrilege  from  the  temple  of  Jerusalem. 


Antonin. 


Bust  of  Claudius  (from  the  statue  in  the  Vatican). 


CHAPTER  XV. 

THE   PRINCIPATE   OF   CLAUDIUS  (41-54  A.D.). 

1.  Circumstances  of  the  accession  of  Claudius.  Idea  of  restoring  the 
Republic.  The  praetorian  guards  and  the  senate.  §  2.  Early  life  and 
character  of  Claudius.  §  3.  Hi"  legitimacy.  Connection  of  Claudian 
and  Julian  houses.  Marriage  relationships.  §4.  Reaction  against  policy 
of  Gaius.  §  5.  Revision  of  the  senate.  Censorship  of  Claudius.  Ex- 
tension of  Roman  civitas  to  Gaul.  Increase  of  patriciate.  Extension 
of  pomoerium.  Religion.  Jews.  Secular  games.  §  6.  Administra- 
tion of  justice.  §  7.  The  serarium.  J'lebiS'ita.  §  8.  Public  works. 
Draining  of  Fucine  lake,  and  naval  spectacle.  §  9.  Provincial 
administration.  Mauretania.  §  10  Corbulo  on  the  Rhine  Lower 
Germany.  §11.  Upper  Germany.  §  12.  Pannonia.  The  Suevians. 
§  13.  New  provinces.  The  client  kingdoms.  Mithradates  and  the 
kingdom  of  Bosporus.  §  14.  Judea  and  Agrippa.  Cos.  Byzantium. 
§  15.  Employment  of  freedmen  by  Claudius.  §  16.  Marriage  of 
Claudius.  Messalina.  §  17.  Position  and  influence  of  the  Empress. 
Exile  and  death  of  Julia.  Destruction  of  Appius  Silanus,  Valerius 
Asiaticus,  and  Poppaea  Sabina.  §  18.  Messalma's  intrigue  with  Silius. 
Their  marriage.  Stratagem  of  Narcissus  and  the  freedmen.  §  19. 
The  orgies  of  Messalina.  I'eath  of  Silius  and  Messalina.  §  20. 
Agrippiua  and  her  designs.  §  21.  Her  marriage  with  Claudius. 
Death  of  Lucius  Silanus  and  Lollia  Paulina.  §  22.  Character  of 
Agrippina  and  her  court.  §  23.  Her  schemes  for  her  son.  Nero  and 


41  A.1X  QUESTION  OF  THE  SUCCESSION.  231 

Britannicus.  Marriage  of  Nero  and  Octavia.  Agrippina's  influence 
sbiken.  §  24.  Struggle  of  Narcissus  and  Agrippina.  Destruction  of 
Domitia  Lejiida.  §  25.  Death  of  Claudius.  §  26.  Arrangements  ot 
Agrippina  for  the  accession  of  Nero.  He  is  accepted  by  the  guards 
and  the  senate.  §  '27.  Deification  of  Claudius.  §  28.  Seueca's  satire, 
fadus  de  morte  Chtudii  C&saris. 


SECT.  I. — ACCESSION  AND  CHABAOTEB  OP  CLAUDIUS. 

§  1.  GAIUS  dssARwas  the  first  of  a  long  list  of  Roman  Emperors 
who  were  destined  to  fall  by  the  bunds  of  assassins.  His  death  led 
to  a  serious  crisis,  for  the  conspirators  had  acted  without  a  thought 
of  what  was  to  come,  and  no  one  was  marki  d  out  to  step  into  the 
place  of  the  murdered  Emperor.  Augustus  had  formally  selected 
Tiberius  as  his  successor,  and  conferred  on  him  the  tribunician  power ; 
Tiberius  had  practically  selected  Gaius  by  his  testament,  but 
Gaius  had  not  either  conferred  a  share  of  tlie  imperial  prerogatives 
on  any  one,  or  made  a  wilL  Thus  it  seemed  open  to  the  senate 
and  the  Roman  people  to  put  into  practice  the  constitutional 
theory  that  the  Empire  was  elective. 

As  soon  as  the  assassination  became  known,  the  consuls  Sentius 
Saturninus  and  Pomponius  Secundus  ordered  the  urban  cohorts  to 
post  themsdves  in  various  parts  of  the  city,  and  immediately 
called  together  the  senate  to  deliberate  on  what  was  to  be  done. 
The  fathers  met  in  the  temple  of  Capitoline  Jupiter,  and  not,  as 
usual,  in  the  Curia  Julia,  as  though  in  this  building  they  would  have 
been  under  the  ^nfiuence  of  the  Julian  name.  They  were  unanimous 
in  denouncii  g  the  tyrannical  rule  of  Gaius,  in  abolishing  his  un- 
popular taxes,  and  in  promising  a  donative  to  the  soldiers.  But 
they  were  divided  on  the  more  momentous  question  as  to  the 
future  of  the  state.  Some  held  that  the  free  Republic  should  be 
restored  and  the  constitution  of  the  Ca?sars  abolished ;  others  voted 
that  the  Principate  should  continue,  but  in  another  family,  and 
there  were  not  wanting  candidates  for  the  supreme  place.  They 
could  come  to  no  agreement,  but,  before  they  separated,  a  decree 
was  parsed  in  honour  of  Cassius  Cha^rea  and  the  other  conspirators, 
and  the  watchword  given  ly  the  consuls  to  the  city  cohorts  was 
Libertas.  Chorea  then  sent  an  officer  to  put  to  death  the  Empress 
Caesunia  and  her  infant  daughter. 

But  the  solution  of  the  difficulty  did  not  rest  with  the  senate. 
The  prastorian  guards  had  already  determined  that  the  Empire  was 
not  to  be  abolish  d,  and  who  the  next  Kmperor  was  to  be.  In  the 
confusion  which  follnw.d  the  assignation,  some  of  these  soldiers 
had  rushed  into  the  palace  in  search  of  plunder,  and  had  discovered, 


232  THE  PRINCIPATE  OF  CLAUDIUS,       CHAP.  xv. 

hidden  behind  a  curtain,  in  fear  of  his  life,  Claudius,  the  son  of 
Drusus  and  brother  of  Germanicus.  They  greeted  him  with  the 
title  Imperator,  and  carried  him  off  to  the  prsetorian  camp.  The 
restoration  of  the  Republic  would  have  meant  the  dissolution  of  the 
guards,  and  they  were  naturally  resolved  to  hinder  it.  Claudius 
wavered  before  accepting  the  dignity  which  was  thus  thrust  upon 
him  and  of  which  he  had  perhaps  never  dreamt.  But  the  in- 
sistence of  the  soldiers,  the  voice  of  the  people  who  gathered  round 
the  senate  on  the  following  morning,  and  the  counsels  of  Herod 
Agrippa,  who  went  to  and  fro  between  the  senate  and  the  camp, 
determined  him  to  yield ;  and  he  promised  the  guards,  when  they 
took  the  oath  of  allegiance,  a  donative  of  15,000  sesterces  (£120) 
each.  He  was  the  first  of  the  Caesars  who  bought  the  fidelity  of  the 
soldiers  by  a  donative.  It  would  have  been  useless  for  the  senate 
to  attempt  to  struggle  against  the  will  of  the  praetorians,  even  if 
the  urban  cohorts  had  continued  to  support  it,  but  these  went 
over  to  the  other  side. 

Claudius  was  then  conducted  to  the  palace  by  the  praetorians, 
and  he  ordered  the  senate  to  come  to  him  there.  The  senators  did 
not  dare  to  refuse  ;  only  the  conspirators  Chaerea  and  Sabinus  held 
out,  and  protested  against  the  replacement  of  a  madman  by  an 
idiot.  The  usual  decrees  were  passed  conferring  the  imperial 
powers  upon  Claudius,  the  first,  but  by  no  means  the  last,  Roman 
Emperor  who  was  elected  by  the  will  of  the  praetorian  guards. 

Chasrea  and  others  of  the  conspirators  were  immediately  executed. 
Sabinus  was  pardoned,  but  killed  himself  by  falling  on  his  sword, 
having  declared  that  he  could  not  survive  the  accession  of  another 
Caesar.  For  all  the  other  acts  of  the  short  interregnum  a  general 
pardon  was  proclaimed.  But  the  assassination  of  his  nephew  had 
made  a  deep  impression  on  Claudius,  and  he  adopted  the  practice  of 
keeping  guards  continually  posted  round  his  person,  even  when  he 
sat  at  table.  All  persons  who  were  admitted  to  the  imperial 
apartments  were  searched  before  they  entered. 

§  2.  The  new  Emperor,  Tiberius  Claudius  Nero  Germanicus*,  was 
born  at  Lugudunum  on  the  day  on  which  the  temple  of  Augustus 
and  Rome  was  dedicated  there  by  his  father  (10  B.C.).  He  was  thus 
about  fifty  years  of  age  when  he  came  to  the  throne.  He  had 
always  been  regarded  arid  treated  by  his  family  as  half  an  imbecile, 
but  his  defects  seem  to  have  been  physical  rather  than  mental. 
His  constitution  was  weak  :  his  hands  trembled  ;  he  halted  on  one 
leg ;  and  his  speech  was  thick.  Labouring  under  these  disadvantages, 
he  was  neglected  by  his  mother,  who  described  him  as  a  "monster," 
and  left  to  the  care  of  servants.  His  grandmother  Livia  ignored 
*  Full  name :  Ti.  Claudius  Drusi  f.  Cwsar  Augustus  Germanicus. 


il   A.D. 


CAREER   OF   CLAUDIUS. 


233 


him.  Augustus,  indeed,  recognised  that  he  was  not  such  a  fool  as 
he  seemed,  but  slighted  him,  deeming  him  worthy  of  no  higher 
dignity  than  an  augurate,  and  leaving  him  only  a  very  small 
bequest  in  his  will.  Tiberius  treated  him  with  undisguised  con- 
tempt, and  seeing  no  hope  of  a  public  career,  Claudius  retired  to 
the  country,  devoted  himself  to  literature,  and  amused  himself 
with  the  society  of  low  people.  Under  his  nephew  Gaius  he  was 
promoted  to  the  dignity  of  the  consulship,  and  thereby  entered  the 
senatorial  rank.  But  his  wanton  kinsman  forced  him  to  submit  to 
all  kinds  of  indignities  and  insults.  He  was  slighted  in  the  curia, 
and  at  the  court  was  the  butt  of  the  Emperor's  rollicking  com- 
panions. The  senate  selected  him  as  the  head  of  a  deputation  to 
Gaius  in  Gaul,  and  on  that  occasion  he  was  ducked  in  the  river 
Rhone.  He  was  created  priest  to  Gaius  as  Jupiter  Latiaris,  and 
ruined  by  the  enormous  expenses  which  devolved  upon  him  in  that 
capacity.  Yet,  as  Gaius  had  no  children,  the  more  farsighted,  like 
Herod  Agrippa,  saw  that  Claudius  might  one  day  be  a  candidate 
for  empire,  and  took  care  to  maintain  friendly  relations  with  him. 

He  wrote  three  large  historical  works :  a  history  of  the  Etruscans, 
in  twenty  Books ;  a  history  of  the  Carthaginians,  in  eight  Books  : 
and  a  history  of  the  Roman  state  since  the  battle  of  Actium,  in 
forty-one  Books.  He  also  wrote  his  own  biography,  in  eight  Books  ; 
a  defence  of  Cicero  against  the  censures  of  Asinius  Gallus ;  a  treatise 
on  dice-playing,  and  a  Greek  comedy.  The  Etruscan  and  Car- 
thaginian histories  were  also  written  in  Greek.  He  studied  grammar, 
and  attempted  to  enrich  the  Latin  alphabet  by  three  new  letters,* 
which,  however,  did  not  survive  his  reign.  But  though  he  was 
erammed  with  antiquarian  lore,  he  had  little  judgment  in  applying 
it,  and  the  circumstances  of  his  early  life  did  not  tend  to  make  him 
practical.  Yet  it  was  a  gross  misrepresentation  to  say  that  he  was 
half-witted.  When  he  came  to  the  throne  he  surprised  all  by 
showing  considerable  talent  for  administration,  as  well  as  a  genuine 
anxiety  for  the  welfare  of  the  state.  He  was  a  weak-minded 
pedant,  and  lived  under  the  influence  of  his  wives  and  his  freed- 
men,  but  he  was  far  from  being  an  imbecile.  He  and  James  I.  of 
England,  to  whom  he  has  aptly  been  compared,  are  the  two 
notorious  examples  of  pedants  on  the  throne.  They  were  alike 
also  in  their  ungainly  figures,  coarse  manners,  and  want  of  personal 
dignity.  The  face  of  Claudius,  as  represented  in  his  busts,  was 
handsome,  and  has  a  look  of  pain  or  weariness,  which  gives  it 
a  certain  interest. 


*  The  most  useful  of  the«e  novelties 
was  the  distinction  of  u  and  v,  by  using  an 
inverted  digamuin  for  the  Utter  sound. 


We  meet  this  symbol  frequently  in  the 
inscriptions  of  bis  reign.  Thus  ampliavit 
was  written  ampliajitu 


234  THE  PRINC1PATB  OF  CLAUDIUS.       CHAP.  xv. 

§  3.  Claudius  did  not  belong,  strictly  speaking,  to  the  house  of 
the  Csesara.  He  had  not  been  transferred  into  the  Julian  gens, 
like  his  uncle  Tiberius  and  his  brother  Germanicus. 

When  therefore  he  adopted  the  name  "  Cajsar,"  it  was  in  strict- 
ness no  longer  a  family  name,  but  an  imperial  title.  Yet  Claudius 
had  been  so  closely  associated  with  the  family  of  the  Caesars  that 
his  assumption  of  the  Julian  cognomen  may  have  har«ily  seimed 
an  innovation.  The  Claudians  and  Julians  had  been  so  closely 
connected  since  the  marriage  of  Augu.^tus  and  Li  via  that  they 
were  almost  regarded  as  a  single  house.  It  was  the  policy,  oi 
Claudius  to  emphasize  his  connection  with  Augustus.  He  caused 
the  divine  honours,  which  Tiberius  had  refused,  to  be  granted  to 
his  grandmother  Livia  Augusta.  •  His  position  was  perhaps  further 
strengthened  by  his  marriage  with  Valeria  Messalina,  who  was  a 
descendant  of  Octavia,  the  sister  of  Augustus.*  Their  daughter 
Octavia  was  intended  to  be  the  bride  of  L.  Junius  Silanus,  who  was 
a  great-great-grandson  of  Augustus;  and  his  other  daughter, 
Antonia,  by  a  former  wife,  was  affianced  to  Cn.  Pompeius  Magnus, 
who  was  connected  through  his  parents  with  several  distinguished 
families.f 

§  4.  The  reign  of  Claudius  was  marked  by  a  reaction  against 
that  of  Gaius,  as  that  of  Gaius  had  been  marked  by  a  reaction 
against  that  of  Tibeiius.  The  new  Etnperor  showed  himself 
clement  and  moderate.  The  acts  of  Gaius  were  annulled;  the 
estates  which  he  had  confiscated  were  restored  to  their  owners,  and 
the  statues  of  which  he  had  lobbed  the  temples  of  Greece  and  Asia 
were  sent  back  to  their  homes.  Exiles  and  prisoners  who  were 
suffering  under  the  charge  of  treason,  were  pardoned,  and  Julia 
and  Agrippina,  the  nieces  of  the  Emperor,  were  recalled  from  the 
banishment  to  which  they  had  been  condemned  by  their  brother. 
The  new  year's  presents,  which  Gaius  had  demanded  from  his 
subjects,  were  forbidden,  and  the  Emperor  accepted  the  inheritance 
of  no  man  who  had  relatives.  But  the  aristocrats  were  not  at  first 
contented  with  the  rule  of  one  whom  they  had  been  taught  to 
regard  with  a  pitying  contempt.  The  fate  of  Gaius  showed  how 
easy  it  was  to  overthrow  an  Emperor,  and  there  were  not  want'ng 
aspirants  to  the  supreme  power.  A  conspiracy  was  formed  to  strike 
down  Claudius  and  set  in  his  place  L.  Annius  Vinicianus,  a  promi- 
nent senator.  The  movement  was  supported  by  Furius  Camiilus 
Scribonianus,  governor  of  Dalmatia,  who  undertook  to  march  into 
Italy  at  the  head  of  the  two  legions  under  his  command,  and  sent 
a  message  of  insolent  defiance  to  Claudius,  who  was  so  terrified 

*  See  below,  $  16. 

t  The  Calpurnfi  Pisones,  and  the  Licinii  Crnssi,  as  well  as  the  Pompeii. 


47,  48  A.D.  CENSORSHIP  OF  CLAUDIUS.  235 

that  he  thought  of  resigning  the  Empire.  But  the  soldiers  refused 
to  follow  their  commander  when  he  announced  his  intention,  and 
he  was  forced  to  fly  to  one  of  the  islan-is  off  the  coast,  10  escape 
their  anger.  The  legions  (VII.  and  XL)  were  rewarded  for  their 
loyalty,  and  a  decree  ot  the  senate  conferred  upon  each  the  titles 
of  Claudian,  Pious,  Faithful.  The  chief  conspirators  were  pun- 
ished by  death  or  committed  suicide. 


SECT.  II. — ADMINISTRATION  OF  CLAUDIUS. 

§  5.  Claudius  endeavoured  to  model  his  statesmanship  on  that  ol 
Augustus.  He  set  himself  to  restore  the  relations  of  cordiality 
which  had  subsisted  between  senate  and  Princeps  under  the 
first  Emperor.  The  division  ol  power  between  them  was  strictly 
maintained,  and  Claudius  was  prompted  by  his  passion  for  antiquity 
to  preserve  the  dignity  of  the  senate.  He  reserved  for  members  of 
that  ancient  order  special  seats  in  the  Circus  Maxinms.  The 
influence  of  the  senate  was  also  increased  by  the  rivalry  which 
existed  between  the  1'reedmen  and  the  wives  of  the  Emperor,  each 
party  seeking  a  support  in  the  authority  of  the  senate.  The  list  of 
the  order  had  not  been  revised  since  the  reign  of  Augustus,  and 
Claudius  undertook  the  unpopular  task,  which  his  two  predecessors 
had  omitted.  The  task  was  necessary,  but  like  most  things  which 
Claudius  did,  he  performed  it  in  a  manner  which  excited  ridicule. 
Instead  of  simply  assuming  censorial  power,  he  revived  (47, 48  A.D.)* 
the  office  of  censor— a  title  which  Augustus  had  avoided — and  held 
a  lustrum.  His  colleague  in  the  office  was  L.  Vitellius.  The  act 
was  harmless,  but  it  seemed  to  savour  of  the  antiquarian  on  the 
throne,  and  when  the  zealous  censor  issued  fifty  edicts  in  one  day, 
there  was  matter  for  jest  in  Rome.  But  useful  business  was  done. 
Many  new  members  were  admitted  into  the  senate,  and  the 
equestrian  order  was  also  revised.  Claudius  showed  that  he  had  not 
forgotten  the  land  of  his  birth,  by  paving  the  way  for  extending 
the^'ws  honorum  to  the  three  Gauls,  so  far  as  they  already  possessed 
the  civitas  sine  suffrayio.  Natives  of  Gallia  Narbonensis,  of  Spain 
and  Africa,  had  already  been  admitted  to  the  senate,  and  the 
magistracies ;  Claudius  extended  the  privilege  to  the  ^Edui,  who,  as 
the  first  Gallic  allies  of  Rome,  were  called  the  "  brothers  of  the 
Roman  people."  This  mark  of  favour  came  fitly  from  the  son  of 
Drusus,  the  brother  of  Grermanicus,  and  the  conqueror  of  Britain. 
The  speech  which  Claudius  pronounced  on  this  occasion  before  the 

*  He  appears  as  censor  designate  In  47  I  following  year.    He  laid  It  down  before 
A.D.,  but  it  is  uncertain  whether  the  cen-     the  ftjitumn  of  48  A.D. 
sorship  began  in    this,  or  not  till  the  ' 


236  THE  PBINCIPATE   OF   CLAUDIUS.       CHAP.  xv. 

senate  was  characteristic  of  the  man.  Two  considerable  fragments 
of  it  have  been  preserved  on  bronze  tablets,  which  were  dug  up  at 
Lyons,  and  we  can  judge  from  these  remains  that  the  oration  was 
long  and  rambling,  displaying  knowledge  of  the  ancient  history  of 
Rome,  which  bore  very  little  on  the  matter  in  hand,  and  illustrating 
that  want  of  sense  of  proportion,  which  made  even  the  best  acts  of 
Claudius  seem  a  little  absurd.  After  a  long  and  tedious  historical 
disquisition,  he  suddenly  breaks  out  in  an  address  to  himself  which 
is  simply  grotesque:  "But  it  is  high  time  for  thee,  0  Tiberius 
Caesar  Germanicus,  to  unfold  to  the  conscript  fathers  the  aim  of 
thy  discourse." 

Like  Augustus,  Claudius  was  specially  empowered  by  the  senate 
(in  the  year  of  his  censorship)  to  increase  the  number  of  patrician 
families,  which  were  gradually  dwindling,  with  a  view  to  the 
conservation  of  religious  ceremonies.  This  was  a  work  thoroughly 
congenial  to  the  spirit  of  the  antiquarian  sovran.  He  also  received 
powers  to  enlarge  the  Pomoerium,  so  as  to  include  the  Aventine 
hill,  which  had  hitherto  lain  outside  the  limits  of  the  city  in  its 
narrower  sense.  As  an  imitator  of  Augustus  and  a  student  of 
Etruscan  archaeology,  he  naturally  made  the  maintenance  of  religion 
a  special  care,  and  did  away  with  the  oriental  rites  which  had  come 
into  practice  at  the  court  in  the  reign  of  Gaius.  The  Jews  were 
tolerated  in  Rome  until  their  seditions  caused  him  to  expel  them 
again,  as  they  had  been  expelled  by  Tiberius.  In  the  eight 
hundredth  year  of  the  city,  which  fell  in  this  reign  (47  A.D.), 
Claudius  as  Pontifex  Maximus  celebrated  the  Ludi  Sseculares,  though 
they  had  been  celebrated  sixty-three  years  before  by  Augustus. 
He  founded  a  college  of  sixty  haruspices  for  the  official  main- 
tenance of  Etruscan  auguries.  But  in  his  zeal  for  religion  he  did 
not  neglect  the  dictates  of  worldly  wisdom,  and  limited  the  number 
of  holidays,  which  interfered  with  the  course  of  business. 

§  6.  Claudius  also  imitated  his  great  model  in  devoting  himself 
assiduously  to  the  administration  of  justice.  He  used  to  sit 
patiently,  hour  after  hour,  through  tedious  judicial  investigations  in 
the  open  forum,  or  in  the  Basilica  Julia.  But  while  we  may 
recognise  his  good  intentions,  it  is  doubtful  whether  such  personal 
activity  of  a  sovran  in  administering  justice  is  not  more  harmful 
than  beneficial.  He  annulled  the  laws  of  treason,  suppressed  the 
practice  of  delation,  and  promised  that  no  Roman  citizen  should  be 
submitted  to  the  pain  of  torture.  He  did  away  with  the  innovation 
introduced  by  (Saius,  that  slaves  might  give  evidence  against  their 
masters.  In  connection  with  these  measures,  which  were  designed 
to  preserve  the  dignity  of  the  Roman  citizen,  it  may  be  mentioned 
that  he  meted  out  strict  punishment  to  those  who  claimed  the 


41-54  A.D.     ADMINISTRATION.      PUBLIC  WORKS.        237 

franchise  on  false  pretences.  He  also  regulated  marriages  between 
free  women  and  slaves,  and  defined  the  legal  position  of  their 
children  as  servile. 

§  7.  Some  important  administrative  changes  were  made  in  the 
reign  of  Claudius.  Judicial  authority  was  committed  to  the 
procurators,  who  managed  the  affairs  of  the  fiscus  in  the  provinces. 
Thus,  suits  concerning  fiscal  debts  were  withdrawn  from  the 
ordinary  tribunals ;  but  those  who  were  not  satisfied  with  the 
award  of  the  imperial  procurator  could  appeal  to  the  Emperor. 
Claudius  also  made  a  new  arrangement  for  the  administration  of 
the  asrarium.  It  will  be  remembered  that  Augustus  had  transferred 
this  treasury  from  the  urban  quaestors  to  two  prsetores  serarii. 
Claudius  restored  it  to  the  quaestors,  but  with  a  modification  of 
the  old  arrangement.  The  two  treasurers  were  selected  from  the 
quaBStors,  not  by  lot,  but  by  the  choice  of  the  Emperor,  and  they 
held  office  for  three  years,  under  the  title  of  qusestores  xrarii 
Saturni  (44  A.D.).  The  tendency  to  return  to  old  constitutional 
forms  was  also  manifested  in  the  revival  of  the  legislative  power 
of  the  comitia  of  the  people.  Some  of  the  laws  of  Claudius  took 
the  form  of  plebiscites.  But  it  was  the  unpractical  experiment  i>f 
an  antiquarian,*  and  all  his  important  legislation  took  the  form  of 
senatusconsulta. 

§  8.  His  reign  was  distinguished  by  the  execution  of  works  of 
public  utility.  He  completed  the  aqueduct  which  had  been  begun 
by  Gaius,  and  left  unfinished ;  and  from  him  it  derived  the  name 
of  Aqua  Claudia.  A  much  greater  work  was  the  construction  of 
the  Portus  Romanus.  When  Claudius  came  to  the  throne,  the 
public  granaries  were  empty,  and  Rome  was  threatened  with  a 
famine.  The  immediate  necessity  was  relieved  by  extending  privi- 
leges to  private  trade  in  corn  ;  but  the  scarcity  continued,  and  one 
of  the  chief  and  abiding  causes  was  the  want  of  a  good  haven  close 
to  Rome.  The  mouth  of  the  Tiber  was  silted  up  with  sand,  and 
the  corn-ships  from  Egypt  were  obliged  to  anchor  at  Puteoli. 
Claudius  supplied  this  great  want  by  making  a  new  haven,  a  little 
above  the  well-nigh  deserted  port  of  Ostia,  and  connected  with  the 
river  by  an  artificial  channel.  The  haven  was  formed  by  two 
immense  moles  built  out  into  the  sea,  and  a  lighthouse  was  erected 
at  the  entrance.  This  undertaking  involved  a  large  outlay,  but  it 
was  of  great  and  permanent  utility.  A  still  vaster  enterprise  was 
the  draining  of  the  Fuciue  Lake  in  the  land  of  the  Mar  si,  but  the 
cost  and  the  labour  were  not  recompensed  by  the  results.  The 
agriculture  of  the  Marsians  suffered  constantly  from  the  swelling  of 
the  waters  of  the  lake,  and  Claudius  undertook  to  hinder  this 
*  It  WM  tried  once  again  by  Nerva,  as  we  shall  see. 


238  THE  PBINCIPATE  OF  CLAUDIUS.       CHAP.  xv. 

calamity  by  constructing  a  tunnel,*  three  miles  in  length  through 
Monte  Salviano,  to  carry  away  the  overflow  into  the  river  Liris. 
The  work  of  thirty  thousand  men  for  eleven  years  (4l-~-<l  A.D.) 
was  spent  on  this  design,  but  the  tunnel  did  not  prove  permanently 
efficient,  like  that  which  drained  the  Alhan  Lake.  Claudius  cele- 
brated the  completion  of  the  work  by  a  mimic  naval  battle  on  the 
lake,  like  one  which  Augustus  had  exhibited  in  an  artificial  basin 
in  the  Transtiberine  suburb  of  Rome,  but  on  a  much  larger  scale. 
Claudius  equipped  vessels  of  three  and  four  banks  of  oars,  with 
nineteen  thousand  men.  He  lined  the  shores  of  the  lake  with  a 
continuous  platform  of  rafts  to  prevent  the  galley-slaves  from 
escaping,  but  full  space  was  left  for  the  operations  of  a  sea-fiuht. 
Divisions  of  praetorian  cohorts  and  cavalry  were  posted  on  the  rafts, 
with  a  breastwork  in  front  of  them,  from  which  they  could  direct 
missiles  against  any  of  the  naval  gladiators  who  tried  to  escape. 
An  immense  multitude  of  people,  both  from  Home  and  the  neigh- 
bouring towns,  had  gathered,  both  to  see  the  wonderful  spectacle, 
and  to  show  their  res|>ect  for  the  Emperor  ;  and  the  banks,  the  slopes, 
and  the  hill-tops  were  crowded  with  spectators,  so  that  the  scene 
resembled  a  vast  theatre.  The  Kmpero'1,  dressed  in  a  splendid 
military  cloak  (paludamentum] ,  and  his  wile  Agrippina,  also  wearing 
a  military  cloak,  presided.  Though  the  combatants  were  condemned 
crimiriHls,  they  fought  bravely,  and  when  much  blood  had  been 
shed,  they  were  allowed  to  separate.  The  story  is  told  that  when 
they  saluted  Claudius  with  the  words,  Have,  imperator,  morituri 
te  salutant,  ("Hail,  Emperor!  men  doomed  to  die  greet  thee  "), 
he  answered  with  aut  non  ("  Or  not"  doom  d  to  die);  and  they, 
taking  the  words  as  a  pardon,  refused  to  fi^ht.  Claudius  at  first 
thought  of  having  them  all  massacred,  but  after  wan  Is,  going  round 
in  person,  induced  them  to  fight  by  threats  and  exhortations. 


SECT.  III. — THE  PROVINCES  UNDER  CLAUDIUS. 

§  9.  The  gradual  elevation  of  the  provinces  to  a  poHtical  equality 
with  Italy  is  one  of  the  features  of  the  imperial  period.  The 
extension  of  the  ius  honorum  to  Gaul,  which  has  been  already 
mentioned,  was  an  important  step  in  this  direc  tion,  and  the  reign 
of  Claudius  was  marked  by  a  tendency  to  bestow  the  Roman 
citizenship  on  provincial  communities.  He  was  ridiculed,  in  a 
humorous  satire  written  after  his  death  by  the  philosopher  Seneca, 
for  having  resolved  to  see  all  the  Greeks,  Gauls,  Spaniards  and 
Britons,  dressed  in  the  Roman  toga.  He  introduced  many  changes 
*  Bee  under  the  article  "  Emissarium  "  In  Smith's  Dictionary  qf  Antiquitte. 


A.D.  WARFARE  IN  AFRICA  AND  GERMANY      239 

in  the  administration  of  the  subject  lands,  both  the  provinces  and 
the  dependent  kingdoms.  In  the  north  tlie  Empire  gained  a  new 
province  by  the  conquest  of  Britain,  which  will  be  recounted  in 
another  chapter ;  and  this  led  to  an  increase  of  the  army  by  two 
new  legions.  The  praetorian  cohorts  were  also  increased  in  this 
reign  from  nine  to  twelve.  Manretania  had  10  be  conquered  anew 
at  the  other  extremity  of  the  Empire.  The  inhabitants  had  rushed 
to  arms  after  the  execution  of  their  king  Ptolemy,  under  the 
leadership  of  JSderaon,  one  of  his  freedmeu.  The  governor, 
Publius  Gabinius,  was  not  equal  to  coping  with  the  rebellion ;  but 
his  successor,  C.  Suetonius  Paulinus,  who  became  famous  after- 
wards by  his  campaign  in  Britain,  crossed  Mount  Atlas  and  went 
as  far  south  as  the  river  Gir,  reducing  the  Maurusian  tribes 
(42  A.D.).  This  expedition,  however,  was  not  decisive,  and  the 
struggle  seems  to  have  lasted  until  45  A.D.,  when  Lucius  Galba 
(who  was  afterwards  Emperor)  became  proconsul  of  Africa,  and 
Cn.  Hosidius  Geta  commanded  in  Numidia.  When  order  was 
restored,  chiefly  through  the  energy  of  Geta,  Mauretania  was 
divided  into  two  provinces,  separated  by  the  river  Mattua.  The 
western  was  distinguished  as  Tmgitana,  from  the  town  Tingi;  the 
eastern  as  Csesariensis,  from  the  town  Jol  Csesarea.  Each  was 
governed  by  a  procurator;  but  in  case  of  necessity  they  were 
united  under  the  authority  of  a  legatus.  Another  change  in  the 
western  half  of  the  Empire  was  the  enlargement  of  the  little 
prefecture  of  the  Cottian  Alps,  and  the  elevation  of  its  prefect, 
Julius  Cottius,  to  the  rank  of  king. 

§  10.  Claudius  conquered  Britain,  but  he  did  not  essay  the  other 
enterprise  which  had  once  seemed  expedient  for  the  protection  of 
Gaul ;  he  did  not  try  to  repeat  the  conquest  of  Germany,  which  had 
busied  his  father  Drusus,  and  his  brother  Germanicus.  There 
was,  however,  in  his  reign  some  fighting  beyond  the  Rhine. 
Domitins  Corbulo,  an  able  soldier,  the  rival  of  Suetonius  Paulinus, 
was  appointed  legatus  of  Lower  Germany.  He  was  the  half- 
brother  of  CaBsonia,  the  wife  of  Gains,  in  whose  reign  he  had  been 
entrusted  with  the  task  of  inspecting  the  condition  of  the  roads 
in.  Italy.  On  reaching  the  Rhine  he  set  himself  to  check  the 
piracy  which  had  been  practised  in  recent  years  by  the  German 
peoples  along  the  coast  of  the  North  Sea.  He  punished  the 
Frisians,  who  had  refused  to  pay  the  stipulated  tribute,  and  made 
an  expc  dition  against  the  Chauci  (47  A.D.),  who  had  dared  to  make 
incursions  into  the  Lower  province.  But  a*  he  was  about  to 
establish  a  fortress  in  the  land  of  that  peoi'le,  he  received  orders 
from  the  Emperor  to  desist  from  his  undertaking,  and  leave  the 
Chauoi  to  themselves.  The  enemies  of  Corbulo  had  represented 


240  THE  PBINCIPATE   OF  CLAUDIUS.        CHAP.  xv. 

that  he  was  only  seeking  his  own  glory.  But  in  any  case  it  was 
the  policy  of  the  government  at  this  time  to  keep  the  Germans  in 
order  by  diplomacy  rather  than  by  arms.  Thus  the  Cherusci,  who 
had  degenerated  since  the  days  of  Arminius,  besought  the  Emperor 
to  provide  them  with  a  chief.  Claudius  sent  Italicus,  the  son  of 
Flavus  and  nephew  of  Arminius.  For  a  time  the  youth  was 
popular,  but  he  soon  became  suspected  and  disliked  on  account  of 
his  Roman  manners,  and  had  great  difficulty  in  maintaining  his 
position.  This  was  just  what  Rome  desired ;  it  was  her  policy  to 
promote  discord  and  dissension  among  the  Germans. 

Corbulo  returned  to  his  province  disgusted  and  disappointed. 
"  How  happy  were  the  Roman  commanders  in  old  days,"  he  is 
reported  to  have  murmured  when  he  received  the  imperial  com- 
mand. As  the  soldiers  were  not  to  fight,  he  employed  them  in  the 
task  of  cutting  a  great  canal,  connecting  the  Mosa  (Maas)  with  the 
northern  branch  of  the  Rhine,  parallel  to  the  coast.  This  supplied 
the  place  of  a  road,  and  has  lasted  till  the  present  day,  running 
from  Rotterdam  to  Leiden.  The  reign  of  Claudius  was  also  dis- 
tinguished in  the  history  of  the  Rhine  lands  by  the  elevation  of 
the  Oppidum  Ubiorum  to  the  rank  of  a  military  colony  (50  A.D.), — 
Colonia^  Claudia  Agrippinensis,  called  after  his  fourth  wife  the 
Empress  Agrippina,  who  was  born  there.  Colonia,  as  it  was  simply 
called — and  is  still  called  so  in  the  form  Cologne  or  C6ln — became  an 
important  centre  of  Roman  civilisation.  It  is  possible  that  another 
illustrious  Roman  colony,  Augusta  Treverorum — Trier  on  the 
Mosel — was  also  founded  under  the  auspices  of  Claudius.*  One 
work  which  had  been  begun  by  his  father  it  devolved  upon  him  to 
complete.  This  was  the  great  road  connecting  Italy  with  the 
U  pper  Danube,  passing  over  the  Brenner  Alps,  the  Via  Claudia 
Augusta. 

§  11.  There  were  also  hostilities  in  the  Upper  province  during 
the  reign  of  Claudius.  It  was  found  necessary  to  make  an  ex- 
pedition against  the  Chatti,  and  the  last  of  the  three  eagles  lost  by 
Varus  was  on  this  occasion  recovered.  Some  years  later  (50  A.D.) 
predatory  bands  of  Chatti  invaded  the  province,  which  was 
then  governed  by  Publius  Pomponius  Secundus.  He  ordered  the 
Vangiones  and  the  Nemetes — tribes  which  dwelled  on  the  left  bank 
of  the  Rhine  about  Borbetomagus  (Worms),  and  Noviomagus 
(Speyer) — along  with  the  auxiliary  cavalry,  to  intercept  the  retreat 
of  the  invaders  and  attack  them  while  they  were  dispersed.  The 
troops  were  divided  into  two  columns.  One  of  these  cut  off  the 
plunderers  on  their  return,  when  after  a  carouse  they  were  heavy 

*  But  Borne  refer  It  to  Augustus  himself,  while  others  place  it  as  late  as  the  reign  of 

Oklta. 


50  A.».  RELATIONS  WITH  GERMANY.  241 

with  sleep;  and  some  survivors  of  the  disaster  of  Varus  were 
delivered  from  captivity.  The  other  column  inflicted  greater  loss 
on  the  foe  in  a  regular  battle,  and  returned  laden  with  spoil  to 
Mount  Taunus,  where  Pomponius  was  waiting  with  his  legions. 
The  triumphal  ornaments  were  decreed  to  Pomponius,  who, 
however,  was  more  celebrated  for  his  poems  than  for  his  military 
achievements. 

§  12.  On  the  Pannonian  frontier,  Claudius  was  called  upon  to 
intervene  in  the  affairs  of  the  Suevi.  After  the  overthrow  of 
Maroboduus,  Vannius  had  been  recognised  as  king  of  the  Suevic 
realm,  which  included  Bohemia,  the  land  of  the  Marcomanni,  and 
also  the  modern  Moravia,  the  land  of  the  Quadi.  For  about  thirty 
years  Vannius  reigned  in  great  prosperity,  popular  with  his 
countrymen,  whom  he  enriched  by  plunder  and  the  tribute  of 
subject  tribes.  But  long  possession  made  him  a  tyrant,  and  domestic 
hatred,  combined  with  the  enmity  of  neighbouring  peoples,  proved 
his  ruin.  In  60  A.D.  a  plot  was  formed  for  his  overthrow  by  his 
nephews  Vangio  and  Sido,  who  were  supported  by  Vibilius,  king  of 
the  Hermunduri,  a  people  who  lived  west  of  Bohemia.  Claudius 
declined  to  send  Roman  troops  to  protect  his  vassal,  and  would  only 
promise  a  safe  refuge  to  Vannius  in  case  he  were  expelled.  But  he 
instructed  Palpellius  Hister,  the  legatus  of  Pannonia,  to  have  his 
legions  with  some  chosen  auxiliaries  posted  along  the  banks  of  the 
Danube— as  a  rule  their  station  was  on  the  Drave — to  be  a  support 
to  Vannius  if  he  were  conquered,  and  a  terror  to  the  conquerors.  The 
enemies  of  Vannius  were  supported  by  an  immense  force  of  Lugii,  a 
Suevic  tribe  which  probably  dwelled  in  the  modern  Silesia.  To 
oppose  this  large  force,  Vannius  had  obtained  some  cavalry  from  the 
lazyges  (a  Sarmatian  race  who  lived  between  the  Danube  and  the 
Theiss),  to  support  his  own  infantry.  He  wished  to  protract  the 
war  by  maintaining  himself  in  fortresses ;  but  the  lazyges,  who 
could  not  endure  a  siege,  brought  on  an  engagement;  Vannius  \vas 
compelled  to  come  down  from  his  forts,  and  was  defeated.  He  then 
fled  to  the  Roman  fleet  on  the  Danube,  and  grants  of  land  in 
Pannonia  were  assigned  to  him  and  his  followers.  Vangio  and 
Sido  divided  his  kingdom,  and  remained  loyal  to  Rome. 

§  13.  In  the  east,  the  list  of  provinces  was  augmented  by  the 
"conversion  of  the  kingdom  of  Thrace  into  a  province  governed  by  a 
procurator  (46  A.D.).  The  free  confederation  of  the  cities  of  Lycia 
was  also  abolished  and  that  country  united  to  the  province  of 
Pamphyiia  (43  AD.).  This  measure  led  to  the  complete  Hellenisa- 
tion  of  Lycia.  Macedonia  and  Achaia,  which  Tiberius  had  placed 
under  the  common  control  of  an  imperial  legatus,  were  restored  by 
Claudius  to  the  senate,  and  again  governed  by  praetorian  proconsuls. 
11 


242  THE  PBINCIPATE  OF  CLAUDIUS.       CflAH  xv. 


Now  that  Moesia  was  separately  administered,  they  wore  girt  round 
by  a  chain  of  frontier  provinces  which  secured  them  against  hostile 
inroads,  so  that  they  could  be  safely  entrusted  to  the  senate. 

The  affairs  of  the  small  dependent  kingdoms  in  the  east  were 
ordered  anew.  Antiochus  IV.  was  restored  to  the  throne  of 
Commagene,  which  Gaius  had  given  him  and  then  capriciously 
taken  away.  Special  attention  was  attracted  tc  the  kingdom  of 
Bosporus  and  the  north-eastern  shores  of  the  Knxine.  The  history 
of  these  regions  is  so  little  known  that  the  glimpse  of  them  which 
we  get  now  is  welcome.  In  41  A.D.  Claudius  transferred  the 
kingdom  of  Bosporus,  which  Gains  had  bcstowrd  on  Polemo,  to  a 
certain  Mithradates,  who  claimed  to  be  descended  from  the  great 
opponent  of  Rome;  and  Polemo  received  some  districts  in  Cilicia  as 
a  compensation.  But  a  few  years  later  (45  A.D.)  he  was  deposed, 
for  what  reason  is  unknown,  and  his  brother,  a  youth  named  Cotys, 
was  set  up  in  his  stead  and  at  first  supported  by  a  considerable 
Roman  force  under  Aulus  Didius  Gallus,  who  was  probably  governor 
of  Moesia.  When  the  Romans  departed,  leaving  only  a  few  cohorts 
under  a  knight  named  Julius  Aqnila,  Mithradates  saw  his  op- 
portunity. Collecting  a  band  of  men,  who  were  exiles  like  himself, 
he  overthrew  the  king  of  the  Dandaridae,  a  people  which  dwelled 
near  the  Hypanis(the  Kuban),  and  established  himself  as  ruler  over 
them.  Cotys  and  Aquila  were  alarmed  at  the  prospect  of  an 
invasion  by  Mithradates  at  the  head  of  the  D.mdarids,  especially  as 
the  Siraci,  another  obscure  people  of  those  regions,  had  assumed  a 
hostile  attitude.  Accordingly  they  sought  the  alliance  of  Ennones, 
king  of  the  Aorsi,  another  race  whose  exact  home  is  uncertain  It 
was  resolved  to  anticipate  the  designs  of  the  dethroned  king  of 
Bosporus  by  attacking  him  in  his  new  Dandarid  realm.  The  army 
of  Cotys  consisted  of  the  Roman  cohorts,  native  Bosporan  troops, 
and  cavalry  supplied  by  Eunones.  Mithradates,  having  no  adequate 
forces  to  oppose  to  this  attack,  was  defeated,  and  Soza,  the  town  of 
Dandarica,  was  occupied  by  the  invaders.  The  victors  then 
proceeded  against  the  Siraci,  and  laid  siege  to  their  town,  named 
Uspe,  which  was  built  on  high  ground  and  also  fortified  by  art. 
The  place  was  easily  taken,  and  the  inhabitants,  although  thev  had 
offered  submission,  were  massacred.  After  the  fall  of  Uspe,  the 
king  of  the  Siraci  deserted  the  cause  of  Mithradates,  and  prostrated 
himself  before  the  image  of  the  Emperor.  The  Romans  were  very 
proud  of  this  expedition.  They  had  advance*!  within  three  days' 
journey  of  the  banks  of  the  Tanais,  which  in  their  geography  was 
regarded  as  one  of  the  limits  of  the  known  world.  But  as  they 
returned  by  sea,  some  ships  were  wrecked  on  the  shores  of  the  Tauri, 
and  the  barbarians  slew  one  of  the  prefects  and  some  of  the  soldier*. 


44  A.0.  JUDEA.  243 

For  Mithradates  it  only  remained  to  throw  himself  on  the  mercy 
of  some  protector.  Not  trusting  his  brother  Cotys,  and  there  being 
no  Roman  officer  of  influence  on  the  spot,  he  gave  himself  up  to 
Eunones,  king  of  the  Aorsi.  Eunones  undertook  his  cause,  and  sent 
envoys  to  Claudius,  begging  mercy  for  the  captive.  After  some 
hesitation,  the  Emperor  decided  on  exorcising  clemency ;  Mithradates 
was  conducted  to  Rome,  and  is  said  to  have  spoken  bold  words  in 
the  imperial  presence :  "  I  have  returned  to  you  of  my  own  free  will ; 
it  you  do  not  believe  it,  let  me  go,  and  look  for  me!  "  The  fate  of 
Mitbradates  is  uncertain,  but  he  was  probably  kept,  like  Maroboduus, 
in  some  Italian  city. 

§  14.  But  the  most  important  change  was  the  restoration  of  the 
kingdom  of  Herod.  Judea,  which  since  his  death  had  been  governed 
by  a  Roman  procurator,  was  given  along  with  Samaria  to  his 
grandson  Agtippa,  who  had  played  a  prominent  part  in  securing 
the  accession  of  Claudius.  This  change  was  at  least  as  much  a 
matter  of  policy  as  a  reward  to  Agrippa.  It  was  intended  to  soothe 
the  bad  feeling  against  the  Roman  government  which  had  been 
stirred  up  among  the  Jews  under  the  reign  of  Gaius.  Two  edicts 
were  issued,  according,  first  to  the  Jews  of  Alexandria,  and  then  to 
the  Jews  of  the  whole  Empire,  ti  e  free  exercise  of  their  worship. 
Agrippa  was  very  popular  with  the  Jews,  and  he  was  also  popular 
with  the  Greeks.  At  Jerusalem  he  was  a  Jew  ;  at  Csesarea  he  was 
a  gentile.  On  two  occasions  the  governor  of  Syria,  Vibius  Marsus, 
was  obliged  to  interfere  with  his  policy ;  in  42  A.D  ,  to  prevent  him 
from  fortifying  the  new  town  of  Jerusalem,  and  in  the  following 
year,  to  put  a  stop  to  a  suspicions  congress  of  kings — Antiochus  of 
CorriTnagene,  Cotys  of  Little  Armenia,  Sampsigeram  of  Ernesa, 
Polemo  of  Pontus — who  had  assembled  at  Tiberias  to  meet  Agrippa. 
But  the  restored  kingdom  of  Judea  was  of  short  duration.  Agrippa 
died,  eaten  up  of  worms,  in  44  A.D.,  and  his  son,  who  was  kept  as 
;i  hostage  at  Rome,  was  not  deemed  competent  to  succeed  him. 
Judea  was  placed  nga  n  under  the  government  of  a  procurator,  but, 
to  assume  the  discontent  of  the  Jews  and  prevent  disturbances,  the 
nomination  of  the  high  priest  and  the  administration  of  the  treasure 
of  the  temple  were  not  assigned  to  him  but  to  king  Herod  of  the 
Syrian  Chalcis,  a  brother  of  Agrippa.  At  this  time  Judea  was  much 
disturbed  by  brigands  as  well  as  by  the  fanatical  hatred  of  the  Jews 
against  the  Pagans  ;  and  the  constant  interference  of  the  governor  of 
Syria  was  required.  The  administration  of  Judea  was  one  of  the 
most  difficult  problems  that  the  Roman*  had  to  deal  with  ;  and  they 
committed  the  error  of  not  stationing  sufficiently  large  military 
forces  in  that  province. 

In  53  A.D.,  Claudius  granted  immunity  from  tribute  to  the  island 


244  THE   PRINCIPATE  OP   CLAUDIUS.       CHAP,  xv 

of  Cos,  as  a  personal  favour  to  his  physician  Xenophon,  who 
belonged  to  the  Asclepiadse,  a  family  of  medical  priests,  who  lived 
in  that  island.  The  Emperor  made  one  of  his  characteristic 
speeches  in  the  senate,  going  into  the  ancient  history  of  the  Coans, 
and  then  letting  out  the  true  motive  of  his  proposal  by  mentioning: 
Xenophon,  their  distinguished  countryman.  About  the  same  time, 
tribute  was  remitted  for  five  years  to  Byzantium,  which  had  suffered 
severely  from  the  Bosporan  war  and  from  disturbances  in  Thrace 
when  that  country  was  made  a  province.  The  history  of  the  war 
for  Armenia  must  be  reserved  for  another  chapter. 

§  15.  It  may  be  asked  how  far  the  administration  of  the  Empire 
was  guided  by  the  mind  of  Claudius,  and  how  far  the  measures  of 
his  reign  were  due  to  his  advisers.  On  this  it  is  impossible  to 
speak  with  certainty.  There  is  a  curious  contrast  between  his 
rather  ridiculous  personality  and  the  not  inconsiderable  positive 
results  of  his  reign.  However  much  he  owed  to  his  able  councillors, 
it  is  certain  that  he  impressed  many  of  his  measures  with  his 
personal  stamp.  If  he  was  weakminded,  easily  influenced  by  women 
and  freedmen,  immoderate  in  sensual  indulgence,  and  fond  of  wine 
and  gambling,  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  he  was  well  educated. 
Nor  is  it  fair  to  blame  him  for  the  prominent  part  which  the  freed- 
men of  his  household  played  in  the  administration  of  the  state,  it 
must  be  remembered  that  the  Emperor  had  neither  official  ministers 
nor  a  regular  civil  service  at  his  disposal.  He  was  supposed  to  be 
his  own  secretary  of  state  and  his  own  treasurer;  and  he  was 
therefore  obliged  to  have  recourse  to  the  services  of  his  freedmen  for 
carrying  on  the  business  of  ihe  state.  Augustus  himself  had 
depended  on  freedmen  after  the  death  of  his  advisers  Agrippa  and 
Maecenas.  Tiberius  and  Gams  also  employed  them,  but  did  not 
admit  them  to  their  confideuce.  They  occupied,  however,  such  ? 
position  that  their  influence  over  a  weak-minded  Princeps  was 
almost  a  matter  of  course.  This  happened  in  the  case  of  Claudius. 
He  needed  councillors  to  lean  upon,  and  the  freedmen  were  there,  at 
his  hand.  His  most  trusted  advisers  were  Narcissus,  who  held  the 
post  of  ab  epistulis,  or  secretary ;  Pallas,  who  was  the  a  rationibus, 
or  steward  and  accountant ;  Callistus,  the  a  libellis,  who  received  all 
petitions  preferred  to  the  Emperor ;  and  Polybius,  who  assisted  his 
master  in  nis  studies,  and  had  himself  won  a  place  in  literature  by 
translating  Homer  into  Latin  and  Virgil  into  Greek.  These  Greeks 
were  well-educated  men,  capable  and  versatile  ;  and  it  would  be  an 
error  of  prejudice  to  ridicule  the  government  of  Claudius  as  being 
conducted  by  a  company  of  menials.  They  were  doubtless  far 
more  competent  to  perform  the  duties  of  their  offices  and  to  advise 
the  Emperor  than  the  officials  of  equestrian  and  sen.itorian  rank. 


41-48  A.D. 


MESSALINA. 


245 


But  in  consequence  of  their  position  they  were  overbearing  and 
avaricious.  Having  no  social  position  they  sought  a  compensation 
in  amassing  wealth,  and  their  administration  was  consequently 
marked  by  the  grossest  corruption.  They  sold  appointments  to  the 
highest  bidders ;  they  compassed  the  confiscation  of  the  estates  of 
nobles  on  false  or  frivolous  charges;  they  extorted  bribes  by 
threats.* 


SECT.  IV. — MESSALINA. 

§  16.  In  these  malpractices  the  freedmen  were  aided  and  abetter! 
by  the  Empress  Messalina.  In  his  youth  Claudius  had  be&n 
betrothed  to  Emilia  Lepida,  daughter  of  the  younger  Julia,  but 
the  marriage  was  broken  off  on  account  of  her  mother's  misconduct. 
He  lost  a  second  bride,  Livia  Camilla,  through  her  death  on  the 
wedding-day,  and  finally  married  Plautia  Urgulanilla,  daughter  of 
Plautius  Silvanus,  who  had  distinguished  himself  in  Illyricum. 
Plautia f  was  repudiated  on  account  of  an  intrigue  with  a  freedman, 
and  Claudius  then  married  M\i&  Paetina,  by  whom  he  had  one 
daughter.  JSlia  was  also  divorced,  but  for  no  serious  cause,  and 
(about  38  A.D.)  Claudius  took  a  third  wife,  as  has  been  already 
mentioned,  Valeria  Messalina.  This  remarkable  woman  was 
descended,  on  the  father's  side,  from  the  race  of  the  orator  Messalla 
Corvinus ;  but  by  her  mother,  Domitia  Lepida,  she  was  connected 
with  the  family  of  the  Caesars.  Claudius  and  Lepida  were 
cousins,  being  both  the  grandchildren  of  Antonius  the  triumvir 
and  Octavia,  the  sister  of  Augustus.  The  name  of  Messalina 
has  become  proverbial  for  unblushing  sensuality.  The  tales  that 
have  been  preserved  of  her  vices  and  her  orgies  bear  on  them  the 
marks  of  exaggeration,  but  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  her  conduct 
was  dissolute,  and  that  she  exercised  an  evil  influence  on  the  women 
of  Rome.  She  is  said  to  have  carried  on  criminal  intrigues  with 
the  Emperor's  freedmen,  especially  with  Narcissus.  It  seems 
certain  that  she  and  they  combined  to  hoodwink  Claudius.  They 
concealed  her  love  affairs  with  others,  and  she  concealed  their  pecula- 
tions. While  Messalina  indulged  her  amorous  caprices,  Narcissus 
and  Pallas  built  up  such  great  fortunes,  that  when  Claudius  once 
complained  of  want  of  money,  he  was  told  that  he  would  be 
rich  enough  if  those  two  freedmen  took  him  into  partnership. 


*  The  wetltb  of  Pallas  was  proverbial, 
Juvenal,  Sat.  i.  108:  Ego  possideo  plus 
Pallante. 

f  By  Plautia  Claudius  had  two  children : 
Drusus,  who  was  betrothed  to  a  daughter 


of  Sejanus,  but  died  in  infancy;  and  a 
daughter  whom  he  caused  to  be  exposed 
at  the  age  of  five  months  on  account  of 
her  mother's  guilt. 


246  THE  PRINCIPATE  OF  CLAUDIUS.       CHAP.  xv. 

§  17.  The  position  of  Messalina  seemed  secured  by  the  circum- 
stance that  she  had  borne  her  husband  a  son,  Tiberius  Claudius 
Grermanicus,  who  afterwards  received  the  name  Britannicus  in 
memory  of  the  conquest  of  Britain.  He  was  born  in  February, 
shortly  after  his  father's  accession,  and  this  was  the  first  case  of  a 
son  born  to  a  re'gning  Caesar.  But  Claudius  declined  the  proposal 
to  confer  either  upon  his  son  the  title  Augustus,  or  upon  the 
Empress  that  of  Augusta.*  But  although  Mea>alina  was  not  raised 
to  the  rank  which  had  been  held  by  Livi.i,  she  received  conspicuous 
honour  by  the  decree  which  permit  ted  her  to  ride  in  the  carpentum, 
the  use  of  which  was  still  generally  restricted  to  persons  holding 
priestly  offices  at  solemn  festivals.  A  like  permission  had  been 
already  granted  to  the  Kmperor's  mother  Antonia. 

It  has  been  already  stated  that  Claudius  recalled  his  nieces,  Julia 
and  Agrippina,  from  exile.  Agiippina's  husband,  Cn.  Domitius 
Ahenobarbus,  was  dead,  and  some  time  after  her  return  she  married 
Crispus  Passienus.  Julia  was  espoused  to  M.  Vinicius.  Both  ladies 
were  young  and  attractive;  and,  as  the  daughters  of  Germanicus 
and  sisters  of  Gaius,  they  both  exercised  influence' and  awakened 
suspicion  at  the  court  of  Claudius.  Agrippina  avoided  the  dangers 
which  surrounded  her,  but  Julia's  marked  attentions  to  her  uncle 
excited  the  jealousy  of  Messalina;  she  was  driven  asain  into 
banishment,  and  died  of  starvation.  The  philosopher  Senec^,  noted 
for  his  wealth  as  well  as  for  his  writings,  was  banished  at  the  same 
time  to  Corsica,  as  a  lover  of  Jnlia  ;  but,  strange  to  say,  his  estates 
were  not  confiscated.  In  the  following  year  (42  A.D,)  a  far  more 
glaring  act  of  injustice  was  committed  to  satisfy  the  vengeance  of 
Messalina.  A  distinguished  nobleman,  Appius  Silanus,  of  the  Jnnian 
gens,  had  rejected  the  licentious  advances  of  the  Empress,  and  she 
determined  to  destroy  him,  although  he  had  been  recently  married 
to  her  mother  Domitia  Lepida.  As  there  was  no  possible  ground 
of  charge  against  him,  Messalina  and  her  accomplice  Narcissus 
devised  a  curious  plot.  Narcissus  entered  the  Emperor's  chamber 
early  one  morning,  and  told  in  accents  of  alarm  that  he  had  dreamt 
the  previous  night  that  Claudius  was  murdered  by  Silanus. 
Messalina  then  said  that  she  had  been  visited  by  the  same  dream. 
Claudius,  weak  and  superstitious,  was  terrified  by  the  startling 
coincidence,  and  before  he  had  time  to  lecover  from  his  fright, 
Silanus  himself  appeared,  according  to  an  appointment  which  the 
Emperor  had  made  with  him.  But  Claudius  in  his  bewilderment 
forgot  the  appointment,  and  saw  in  the  sudden  appearance  of 
Silanus  a  confirmation  of  the  suspicions  which  had  been  aroused  by 
the  dreams.  Messalina  and  Narcissus,  pressed  their  advantage,  and 
*  The  title  Augusta,  however,  was  freely  given  to  Messalins  in  the  provinces. 


41-48  A.D.  MESSALINA  AND  SILIUS  247 

easily  persuaded  the  deceived  Emperor  to  issue  an  order  for  the 
immediate  execution  of  Silanus. 

If  this  tale  can  be  trusted,  it  shows  how  unscrupulous  the 
Empress  and  the  freedmen  were  in  compa-sin'j  their  ends,  and  how 
completely  the  Emperor  was  dominated  by  their  influence.  Many 
other  conspicuous  victims  were  sacrificed  to  the  jealousy  or 
covetousness  of  Messalina.  Among  them  was  Poppsea  Sabina,  said 
to  be  the  most  beautiful  woman  of  the  day,  the  wife  of  L.  Cornelius 
Scipio.  Her  real  offence  was  that  she  tried  to  fascinate  Mnester,  a 
dancer  with  whom  Messalina  was  in  love.  But  the  charge  preferred 
against  her  was  that  she  committed  adultery  with  Valerius 
Asiaticus,  a  nobleman  of  wealth  and  influence,  who  was  one 
of  the  consuls  of  the  year  (47  A.D.).  He  was  brought  into  the 
trial  because  Messalina  coveted  the  gardens  of  Lucullus  on  the 
Pincian  hill,  which  he  had  inherited.  At  the  same  time  he  was 
accused  of  treasonable  designs,  and  was  given  no  opportunity  to 
defend  himself  before  the  S(  nate.  The  trial  took  place  privately  in 
the  palace ;  sentence  was  passed  on  the  accused,  and  he  was  allowed 
to  choose  his  own  death.  He  adopted  the  manner  of  suicide  which 
was  then  in  fashion,  and,  after  bathing  and  supping,  cut  open  his 
veins  and  let  himself  bleed  to  death.  Poppsea  put  an  end  to  her 
own  life,  before  the  trial  was  concluded, 

§  18.  So  far  the  plans  of  Messalina  and  those  of  the  freedmen 
had  not  clashed.  The  interests  of  the  latter  were  not  threatened  by 
an  intrigue  with  the  dancer  Mnester  or  by  the  confiscation  of  the 
gardens  of  Asiaticus.  But  when  she  engaged  in  an  intrigue  with 
a  Roman  noble,  Gaius  Silius,  the  case  was  very  different.  For  such 
a  connection  was  clearly  a  menace  to  the  throne.  A  man  in  the 
position  of  Silius  would  hardly  have  suffered  himself  to  be  drawn 
into  an  intrigue  with  a  woman  of  Messalina's  evil  reputation,  if  he 
had  not  been  urged  by  motives  of  ambition.  But  the  interests  of 
the  freedmen  we  re  bound  up  in  their  master's  life,  and  his  overthrow 
would  have  almost  certainly  meant  their  ruin.  They  determined  that 
Gains  Silius  should  not  attain  to  the  Principate,  and,  as  Messalina 
refused  to  listen  to  their  warnings,  they  brought  about  her 
fall  (48  A.D.). 

The  Empress,  infatuated  with  her  new  lover,  induced  him  to 
divorce  his  wife,  and  promised  to  wed  him  after  the  death  of 
Claudius,  whose  weak  constitution  might  not  be  expected  to  hold 
out  much  longer.  But  at  length  Silius,  weary  of  his  ambiguous  and 
dangerous  position,  and  apprehensive,  perhaps,  of  the  constancy  of 
his  paramour,  urged  her  to  consent  to  the  bold  step  of  removing 
Claudius.  He  undertook  to  adopt  Britannicus,  and  promised  to 
reign  in  his  name  and  as  his  guardian.  Messalina,  however,  wa§ 


248 


THE  PRINCIPATE  OF  CLAUDIUS.       CHAP. 


not  anxious  to  gratify  his  wishes.  She  feared  that  when  Silius 
reached  the  goal  of  his  ambition  he  might  spurn  her  from  him  OB 
account  of  her  licentiousness.  Nevertheless  she  felt  such  pleasure 
in  trampling  upon  public  opinion  and  outraging  morality,  that  she 
consented  to  celebrate  a  formal  marriage  with  her  lover.  Claudius 
was  just  then  about  to  set  forth  for  Ostia,  but  before  he  started 
he  was  assured  by  diviners  that  some  evil  was  destined  to  befal 
'*  the  husband  of  Messalina."  To  avert  evil  from  his  own  head,  he 
was  induced  to  sanction  a  pretended  marriage  between  his  wife  and 
another.  Gaius  Silius  was  chosen  to  be  the  sham  bridegroom; 
the  betrothal  took  place  in  the  Emperor's  presence,  and  he  himseli 
signed  the  marriage  contract.  He  then  started  for  Ostia,  but 
Messalina  remained  behind  on  a  plea  of  indisposition,  and,  incredible 
as  it  may  seem,  celebrated  her  marriage  with  Silius  with  all  the 
customary  festivities.* 

It  was  an  anxious  moment  for  the  freedmen,  Narcissus,  Pallas, 
and  Callistus.  The  destruction  of  Gaius  Silius  must  at  all  hazards 
be  effected,  and  it  was  necessary  to  set  cautiously  to  work.  The 
influence  which  Messalina  still  possessed  had  been  recently  shown 
by  the  sentence  of  death  passed  on  Polybius,  who  had  attempted  to 
interfere  between  her  and  her  lover.  So  Narcissus  laid  a  plan  to 
take  her  unawares,  and  ensure  her  fall  before  she  could  obtain  an 
interview  with  her  husband.  He  suborned  two  women,  who  were 
intimate  with  Claudius  to  awaken  him  to  the  knowledge  of  his 
strange  situation.  Narcissus  was  then,  according  to  the  pre- 
arranged plot,  summoned  to  the  Emperor's  presence,  and  confirmed 
the  strange  tale  of  the  marriage  of  Messalina.  "  Did  Claudius,"  he 
asked,  "know  that  he  had  been  divorced  by  his  own  wife?  that 
the  people,  the  senate,  the  soldiers  had  witnessed  the  marriage  of 
Silius?  was  he  still  unaware  that,  unless  he  acted  promptly,  the 
city  was  in  the  hands  of  the  husband  of  Messali'na  ?  "  The  Emperor 
could  hardly  believe  the  story,  but  others  of  the  household  bore 
testimony  to  its  truth,  and  he  was  urged  to  hurry  back  to  Rome 
with  all  speed,  and  secure  himself  in  the  praetorian  camp.  Utterly 
bewildered  and  frightened,  Claudius  let  his  councillors  do  with  him 
what  they  would,  and  on  his  way  back  to  Rome  he  kept  continually 
asking,  "  Am  I  the  Emperor  ?  Is  Silius  a  private  citizen  ? " 
Narcissus  distrusted  Lucius  Geta,  one  of  the  two  prefects  of  the 
praetorian  guards,  as  a  friend  of  Messalina.  He  therefore  induced 


*  Juvenal,  when  enlarging  on  the 
theme  that  beauty  is  a  dangerous  gift, 
adduces  the  case  of  Silius,  as  one  whose 
ruin  was  due  to  his  good  looks,  and  draws 
•picture  of  the  marriage  (Sat.,  x.  331  sqq.y. 
Optimus  hie  et  formosissimus  idem 


Gentis  patricise  rapitnr  miser  extinguendua 
Messalinae  oculis ;  dudum  sedet  ilia  parato 
Flammeolo  Tyriusque  palam  genialis  in 

hortis 

Sternitur,  et  ritu  decies  centena  dabuntm 
Antiquo,  ventot  cum  signatoribms  < 


48  A.D.  FALL  OF  MESSALINA.  249 

Claudius  to  commit  to  himself  the  command  of  the  guards  for  a 
single  day.  On  obtaining  the  consent  of  the  Emperor,  he  sent  orders 
to  Rome  that  the  house  of  Silius  should  be  occupied,  and  all  who 
were  present  arrested.  He  obtained  a  seat  in  the  carriage  of  the 
Emperor,  lest  the  two  companions  of  Claudius,  Vitelliusand  Largus, 
should  weaken  his  resolution.  L.  Vitellius,  who  had  gained 
di&tinction  in  the  east  under  Tiberius,  and  had  worked  himself 
into  the  favour  of  Gaius  by  unscrupulous  flattery,  carefully 
abstained  from  committing  himself  to  an  opinion.  To  the  com- 
plaints of  Claudius  he  merely  said,  "How  scandalous!  how 
horrible  !  "  leaving  the  freedman  to  bear  all  the  responsibility. 

§  19.  Meanwhile  in  the  house  of  Silius,  the  Empress  was  cele- 
brating a  vintage  festival.     The  grape-juice  flowed  in  streams  from 
the  wine-presses,  and  women,  arrayed  as  Bacchants,  with  skins 
flung  over  their  shoulders,   performed   wild   dances.     Messalina, 
herself  brandishing  a  thyrsus,  and  Silius,  crowned  with  ivy,  at  her 
side,  strode  about  in  buskins.      A  note  of  discord  suddenly  broke 
upon  the  dissolute  scene.     A  physician,  one  Vettius  Valens,  had 
climbed  up  a  high  tree,  and  when  they  asked  him  what  he  saw,  he 
replied  in  jest  or  by  some  kind  of  prevision  "  a  terrible  storin 
coming  from  Ostia."     Presently  the  news  came  that  Claudius  was 
indeed  coming  from  Ostia,  and  coming  to  avenge.     The  riotous 
company  was  instantly  scattered.     Silius  rushed  to  the   Forum 
to  hide  his  fear  under  the  appearance  of  business ;  Messalina  fled  to 
the  gardens  of  Lucullus.    They  were  hardly  gone  when  the  officers, 
sent  by  Narcissus,  arrived ;  and  some  of  the  guests,  who  were  slow 
in  making  their  escape,  were  arrested.     Messalina  had  no  fear  that 
all  was  lost;   she  trusted  in  her  power  over  her  husband.     She 
made  arrangements   that   her  children   Britannicus  and  Octavia 
should  meet  their  father,  and  silently  plead  their  mother's  cause ; 
and  she  prayed  Vibidia,  the  eldest  of  the  Vestal  virgins,  to  implore 
the  Pontifex  Maximus  for  pardon.     Then,  having  passed  through 
the  city  on  foot,  she  set  forth  on  the  road  to  Ostia,  and  was  able  to 
find  no  better  conveyance  than  a  cart  which  was  used  to  carry 
garden  refuse.     But  all  her  endeavours  failed.     Narcissus  prevented 
Claudius  from  listening  to  her  cries,  and  the  Vestal,  when  she  met 
the  carriage  on  its  entry   into    Eome,   was   dismissed   with  an 
assurance  that  the  Empress  would  have  an  opportunity  of  defending 
herself.     Claudius  visited  the  house  of  Silius,  and  saw  in  the  hail 
the  statue  of  the  culprit's  father,  which  the  senate  had  ordered  to  be 
overthrown,  and  other  sights  calculated  to  increase  his  indignation. 
He  then  proceeded  to  the  camp  of  the  praetorians,  and  ascended  the 
tribunal.     Silius  would  not  defend  himself,  and  merely  asked  for  a 
speedy  death.     He  was  immediately  executed.     The  same  fate  befel 
11* 


250 


THE  PRINC1PATE   OF  CLAUDIUS.       CHAP.  x\. 


Vettius  Valens  and  several  others,  who  were  charged  with  abetting 
Silius  in  his  crime.  The  dancer  Mnester  was  also  put  to  death  on 
account  of  his  intrigue  with  Messalina,  and  likewise  a  young 
knight  named  Sextus  Montanus,  who  had  been  her  lover  for  only 
one  day.  In  the  meantime  Messalina  had  returned  to  the  Lucullan 
gardens  and  did  not  yet  despair.  Her  mother  Donritia  Lepida, 
who  had  stood  aloof  in  the  days  of  her  prosperity,  came  to  her  in  tht 
hour  of  her  distress.  She  urged  her  daughter  to  anticipate  the  stroke 
of  the  executioner  by  a  voluntary  death.  "Life  is  over,"  she  said, 
"nothing  remains  but  an  honourable  end."  But  Messaliua  was 
fond  of  life  and  she  knew  the  nature  of  her  husband.  Claudius, 
exhausted  by  his  work  of  retribution,  had  retired  to  the  palace  tc 
dine ;  and  after  dinner  he  sent  a  message  to  the  "  poor  woman,' 
bidding  her  come  next  day  and  plead  her  cause.  But  Narcissus 
was  determined  that  she  should  have  no  chance  of  pleading.  So  he 
immediately  ordered  a  tribune  and  some  centurions  to  go  and  slay 
the  criminal,  saying  "such  are  the  Emperor's  orders."  Messalina, 
having  in  vain  attempted  to  pierce  herself  with  a  sword,  was  killed 
by  a  blow  of  the  tribune,  and  the  corpse  was  left  to  her  mother. 
Claudius  meanwhile,  under  the  influence  of  wine,  had  forgotten  the 
events  which  had  just  passed,  and  began  to  ask  why  the  lady 
tarried.  When  they  told  him  that  she  was  dead,  he  merely  called 
for  another  cup,  and  never  mentioned  her  again.  The  senate 
decreed  that  her  name  should  be  effaced  from  all  monuments,  and 
Narcissus  received  as  a  reward  for  his  services,  the  insignia  of 
the  quaestorship. 

Such  seems  to  be  the  least  improbable  version  of  the  stransre  story 
of  the  crowning  insolence  of  Messalina,  and  her  sudden  fall.*  But 
the  episode  of  her  public  marriage  with  Silius  will  always  remain  a 
perplexing  riddle,  unless  some  totally  new  evidence  be  discovered. 


SECT.  V.— AGBIPPINA.    DEATH  OF  CLAUDIUS. 

§  20.  Messalina  had  fallen,  and  the  question  was,  who  was  to  be 
her  successor.  On  this  the  freedmen  were  not  unanimous.  Narcissus 
urged  that  Claudius  t-hould  take  back  his  second  wife,  ^Elia  Psetina, 
whom  he  had  divorced.  Callistus  worked  in  t>  half  of  I .ollia  Paulina, 
the  divorced  wife  of  the  Emperor  Gaius.  Pallas  esi»oust-d  the  cause 


*  This  is  the  version  adopted  by 
Merivale.  It  modifies  the  nanative  of 
Tacitus  by  the  statement  of  Suetonius, 
th&t  ClAudius  sanctioned 


between  his  wife  and  SUius  in  order  tc 
avoil  an  evil  which  was  said  by  the 
soothsayers  to  thi  eaten  the  husband  oi 
Messalina. 


48  A.D.  AGRIPPINA.  251 

of  Agrippina,  the  Emperor's  niece.  This  remarkable  woman,  who 
inherited  the  ambition,  without  the  morality,  of  her  mother,  had 
long  been  scheming  to  establish  an  influence  over  Claudius,  who 
was  very  susceptible  to  female  fascinations.  She  aimed  at  securing 
the  Empire  for  her  son  Lucius  Domitius,  and  winning  for  herself 
such  a  position  as  had  been  held  by  Livia.  It  is  impossible  to 
know  how  far  she  may  have  been  involved  in  the  intrigues 
connected  with  the  fall  of  Messalina.  But  it  is  probable  that  she 
has  influenced  the  verdict  of  history  on  the  career  of  her  rival. 
For  Agrippina  published  personal  memoirs,  in  which  she  revealed 
the  secret  history  of  the  palace,  and  it  was  almost  certainly  from 
these  memoirs  that  the  historian  Tacitus  drew  his  account  of 
Messalina's  wickedness.  It  may  easily  be  believed  that  Agrippina 
highly  coloured  the  story  and  distorted  the  truth.  The  death  of 
her  husband  Passienus  had  left  her  free  and  wealthy ;  and  she 
determined  to  marry  her  uncle,  in  spite  of  the  Roman  prejudice 
agninst  such  a  union.  Her  charms,  supported  by  the  persuasions 
of  Pallas,  subdued  the  weak  Emperor,  and,  in  a  few  weeks  after  the 
d'-ath  of  Messalina,  Agrippina  exerted  over  Claudius  all  the 
influence  of  a  wife.  Before  the  end  of  the  year  (48  A.D.),  ^he  took 
the  first  step  in  the  direction  of  elevating  her  son  to  the  throne* 
He  was  then  eleven  years  old,  but  she  resolved  that,  when  he  came 
of  age,  he  should  marry  Octavia,  the  daughter  of  Claudius.  For  this 
purpose  it  was  necessary  to  break  off  the  betrothal  which  existed 
between  Octavia  and  Lucius  Silanus,  a  great-great-grandson  of 
Augustus.  In  accomplishing  this,  Agrippina  was  assisted  by 
Vitellius,  the  Emperor's  colleague  in  the  censorship,  who  bore  a 
grudge  against  Silanus,  and  was  ready  to  ruin  him.  He  informed 
Claudius  that  Silanus  had  committed  incest  with  his  sister,  and  the 
horrified  Emperor  immediately  broke  off'  the  engagement  of  his 
daughter.  Silanus,  who  was  a  praetor  that  year,  was  ordered  to 
lay  down  his  office,  and  Vitellius,  although  no  longer  censor,  pre- 
sumed on  his  recent  tenure  of  that  office  to  remove  the  name  of 
Silamis  from  the  list  of  senators. 

§  21.  When  this  obstacle  to  the  future  marriage  of  Domitius  and 
Octavia  was  removed,  it  remained  for  Agrippina  to  smooth  the  way 
fur  her  own  union  with  Claudius.  No  precedent  in  Roman  history 
could  be  found  for  marrying  a  brother's  daughter.  Such  an  alliance- 
was  regarded  as  incestuous;  and  in  all  matters  of  religion  Claudius 
was  punctiliously  scrupulous.  The  censor,  who  had  just  expressed 
his  horror  at  the  alleged  incest  of  Silanus,  shrank  from  incurring 
the  charge  of  a  similar  offence.  But  here  Rgain  Vitellius  came  to 
the  aid  of  Agrippina.  He  appeared  in  the  senate  and  delivered  a 
specious  harangue  in  favour  of  the  proposed  marriage.  The 


252  THE  PRINCIPATE  OF  CLAUDIUS.       CHAP.  xv. 

senators  tumultuously  applauded,  and  Claudius  then  appearing  in 
the  curia  caused  a  decree  to  be  passed  that  henceforward  marriages 
with  the  daughters  of  brothers*  should  be  valid.  The  fourth  mar- 
riage of  Claudius  took  place  in  the  early  days  of  49  A.D.,  and  on 
the  wedding  day,  as  it  were  to  bring  a  curse  on  the  event,  Silanus, 
the  betrothed  of  Octavia,  killed  himself.  Another  victim,  who  had 
come  across  the  path  of  Agrippina,  was  Lollia  Paulina,  who  had 
•aspired  to  the  hand  of  Claudius.  She  was  accused  of  having 
consulted  Chaldean  astrologers  concerning  the  imperial  marriage, 
and  the  Emperor  himself  spoke  against  her  in  the  senate.  She  was 
banished  from  Italy,  but  Agrippina  is  said  to  have  dispatched  a 
tribune  after  her  to  put  her  to  death. 

§  22.  While  Messalina  cared  only  for  sensuality,  Agrippina  was 
enamoured  of  power.  She  was  not  content  with  being  the 
Emperor's  wife,  but  wished  to  be  his  colleague.  This  position  was 
designated  by  the  title  Augusta,  which  was  conferred  upon  her  in 
50  A.D.  She  was  the  third  woman  who  bore  this  title,  but  it  meant 
for  her,  as  it  had  meant  for  Livia,  a  share  in  political  power,  and  was 
not  merely,  as  it  had  been  for  Antonia,  an  honourable  title.  But 
Agrippina  enjoyed  a  mark  of  distinction  which  had  not  been  granted 
even  to  the  consort  of  Augustus.  She  was  the  first  Roman  Empress 
whose  image  was  permitted  to  appear  on  coins  during  her  lifetime 
by  decree  of  the  senate.  When  Claudius  gave  audiences  to  his 
"  friends,"  or  to  foreign  envoys,  his  wife  sat  on  a  throne  beside  him. 
We  have  seen  that  she  gave  her  name  to  the  new  colony  of  veterans 
established  iu  the  town  of  the  Ubii,  as  Colonia  Agrippinensis.  In 
order  to  secure  her  influence  with  the  freedman  Pallas,  she  is  said 
to  have  engaged  in  an  intrigue  with  him  ;  but  the  court,  under  her 
rule,  seems  to  have  been  distinguished  by  outward  propriety  and 
certainly  by  stricter  etiquette. 

§  23.  Her  schemes  for  her  son's  advancement  rendered  her  a 
cruel  stepmother  to  Britannicus.  On  the  25th  February,  50  A.D. 
Lucius  Domitius  was  adopted  into  the  Claudian  gens,  under  the 
name  of  Nero  Claudius  Osesar  Drusus  Grermanicus.  This  was  the 
first  instance  of  an  adoption  of  a  son  by  a  patrician  Claudius,  and  the 
Emperor  was  disinclined  to  take  the  step,  not  only  on  this  account} 
but  lest  the  prospects  of  Britannicus  should  be  injured.  He  was 
overcome,  however,  by  the  example  of  Augustus.  The  advancement 
of  Nero  progressed  rapidly.  In  the  following  year  he  was  permitted 
to  assume  the  toga  of  manhood,  and  by  a  decree  of  the  senate  he  was 
made  princeps  iuventutis,  designated  to  hold  the  consulship  at  the  age 
of  twenty,  and  he  received  proconsular  power.  These  honours  were 
sufficient  to  mark  him  out  as  the  successor  of  Claudius  to  the 
*  But  not  •liters ;  and,  strange  to  say,  this  distinction  continued  in  force. 


50-53  A.D.  ADOPTION  OF  NERO.  253 

Principate.  But  Agrippina  went  even  further,  and  caused  her  son 
to  be  elected  supra  numerum  into  the  four  chief  priestly  colleges — 
the  Pontiffs,  the  augurs,  the  quindecim  viri,  and  the  septemviri. 
This  was  a  distinction  which  the  youthful  grandsons  of  Augustus, 
Grains  and  Lucius,  had  not  received.  Nero  had  already  been 
betrothed  to  his  cousin  Octavia;  and  his  adoption,  whereby  he 
became  legally  her  brother,  was  not  allowed  to  hinder  the  cele- 
bration of  the  marriage,  which  took  place  in  53  A.D.  In  the 
meantime  Britanuicus,  who  was  only  a  little  younger  than  Nero, 
was  regarded  and  treated  as  a  child.  Misunderstandings  and 
estrangements  were  treacherously  brought  about  between  him  and 
his  father.  On  one  occasion,  when  the  two  young  princes  met,  and 
Nero  saluted  Britannicus  by  name,  Britannicus  saluted  him  as 
"  Domitius."  Agrippina  complained  of  this  to  the  Emperor,  as 
implying  a  contempt  of  Nero's  adoption  and  the  decree  of  the 
senate.  Claudius  was  moved  by  her  representations  to  punish  one 
of  the  instructors  of  his  son  by  death,  and  others  by  banishment, 
and  place  him  under  the  charge  of  the  creatures  of  his  stepmother. 
By  her  machinations,  also,  the  two  prefects  of  the  prsetorian  guard, 
who  had  been  adherents  of  Messalina,  and  were  anxious  to  secure 
the  succession  of  her  son,  were  deposed,  and  replaced  by  Afranius 
Burrus,  who  was  devoted  to  the  interests  of  his  patroness.  All 
the  officers  who  were  attached  to  the  cause  of  Britannicus, 
were  then  removed.  But  the  son  of  Messalina  had  not  only  a 
strong  party  in  the  senate,  but  a  powerful  supporter  in  the 
imperial  household.  This  was  the  freedman  Narcissus,  who 
exerted  all  his  energy  and  influence  to  weaken  the  power  of 
Agrippina,  and  keep  Nero  from  the  throne.  After  the  marriage  of 
Octavia,  the  struggle  between  the  two  parties  became  keener. 
Vitellius,  who  had  shown  his  devotion  to  the  Augusta,  was 
threatened  with  a  criminal  prosecution.  The  condemnation  of 
Tarquitius  Prisons  also  showed  the  uncertainty  of  her  position. 
She  coveted  the  house  and  gardens  of  Statilius  Taurus,  a  man  of 
noble  ancestry  and  great  wealth,  who  had  been  governor  of  Africa. 
Priscus  brought  against  him  charges  of  extortion  in  his  adminis- 
tration of  that  province,  and  of  practising  magic.  Taurus  disdained 
to  reply,  and  chose  to  die  by  a  voluntary  death ;  but  the  senate 
expelled  the  accuser  from  their  body,  although  Agrippina  exerted 
all  her  power  to  protect  him.  There  were  other  signs,  too,  which 
might  alarm  the  Empress.  Claudius  showed  himself  inclined  to 
reinstate  his  son  Britannicus  in  his  proper  position,  and  spoke  of 
allowing  him  to  assume  the  toya  virilis.  An  ominous  remark  is 
said  to  have  droppe«l  from  his  lips,  that  it  was  his  fate  first 
to  endure  the  offences  of  his  wives,  and  afterwards  to  punish 


254  THE   PRINCIFATE   OF   CLAUDIUS.       OHAP.  XV 

them.    It  looked  as  if  the  influence  of  Narcissus  were  likely  once 
more  to  get  the  upper  hand. 

§  24.  Agrippina  made  an  attempt  to  ruin  Narcissus  by  ascribing 
to  his  mismanagement  the  failure  of  the  tunnel  of  Lake  Fucinus. 
She  failed,  but  she  soon  enjoyed  a  triumph  in  the  ruin  of  her  most 
formidable  female  rival,  Domitia  Lepida.  This  lady,  as  the  daughter 
of  the  elder  Antonia  and  L.  Domitius,  was  the  grandniece  of 
Augustus;  as  the  mother  of  Messalina,  was  the  grandmother  of 
Britannicus ;  and  as  the  sister  of  Cn.  Domitius,  was  the  sister-in-law 
of  Agrippina.  "  In  beauty,  age,  and  wealth,  there  was  not  much 
difference  between  them.  Both  were  immodest,  infamous,  and 
violent.  They  were  rivals  in  their  vices  no  less  than  in  the  gilts 
which  fortune  had  given  them."  *  During  the  exile  of  Agrippina, 
Lepida  had  given  a  home  to  the  child  Nero,  and  ever  since  had 
endeavoured  to  secure  his  affections  by  flattery  and  liberality, 
which  contrasted  with  his  mother's  sternness  and  impatience. 
Lepida  was  charged  with  making  attempts  against  the  life  of  the 
Empress  by  means  of  magical  incantations,  and  with  being  a  dis- 
turber of  the  public  peace  by  maintaining  gangs  of  turbulent 
slaves  on  her  Calabrian  estates.  The  indictment  seems  to  have 
been  brought  before  the  Emperor,  and  it  was  a  trial  of  strength 
between  Agrippina  and  Narcissus,  who  did  all  he  could  to  save 
Lepida.  But  Agrippina  triumphed ;  Lepida  was  sentenced  to 
death.  Yet  notwithstanding  this  victory,  and  notwithstanding  the 
fact  that  Claudius  had  been  induced  to  make  a  will  favourable 
to  her  son,  the  Empress  did  not  feel  sure  of  her  ground,  and  dreaded 
a  reaction. 

§  25.  Under  these  circumstances  the  greatest  luck  that  could 
befal  her  was  the  death  of  Claudius ;  and  Claudius  died  (Oct.  13, 
54  A.D.).  It  was  generally  believed  that  he  was  poisoned  by  his 
wife ;  and  though  we  cannot  say  that  her  guilt  is  proved,  it  seems 
highly  probable.  Claudius  was  in  his  sixty-fourth  year,  and  in 
declining  health.  His  death  took  place  when  Narcissus  was  absent 
at  Siuuessa  for  the  sake  of  the  medicinal  waters ;  and  this  coinci- 
dence supports  the  traditional  account  that  there  was  f«»ul  play, 
for  Narcissus  suspected  the  designs  of  Agrippina.  According  to  the 
received  story,  she  emplo}ed  the  services  of  a  woman  named 
Locusta,  notorious  for  the  preparation  of  subtle  ]X)isons,  who, 
according  to  the  historian  Tacitus,  was  long  regarded  as  "one  of 
the  instruments  of  monarchy."  f  She  compounded  a  curious  drug 
which  had  the  property  of  disturbing  the  mind  without  causing 
instant  death,  and  it  was  administered  to  Claudius  in  a  dish  of 

*  Tacitus,  Ann.,  xii.  64. 

*•  -later  iiutrumenta  regni,  Ann.,  xii.  66. 


DEATH  OF  CLAUDIUS. 


255 


mushrooms.*  But  for  some  reason  the  poison  failed  to  work ;  and 
Agrippina,  fearful  lest  the  crime  should  be  discovered,  called  in 
her  confidential  physician  Xenophou,  who  did  not  hesitate  to  pass 
a  poisoned  feather  into  the  Emperor's  throat,  on  the  plea  of  helping 
him  to  vomit. 

§  26.  The  position  of  Nero  at  the  death  of  Claudius  was  tar 
stronger  than  that  of  Gains  at  the  death  of  Tiberius.  Nero  had  to 
fear  a  declaration  in  favour  of  Britarmicus,  as  Gaius  had  to  fear  the 
rivalry  of  the  son  of  Drusus ;  but  Nero  possessed  the  proconsular 
power,  as  well  as  other  dignities,  which  had  not  been  conferred  on 
Gaius.  He  had  also  the  support  of  bis  mother's  influence,  and 
above  all,  Burras,  the  prefect  of  the  praetorian  guard,  was  devoted 
to  his  interest.  Seeing  that  the  accession  of  Gaius  had  proceeded 
so  smootlily,  there  seemed  no  reason  for  doubt  in  the  case  of  Nero. 
But  Agrippina  took  every  precaution  for  securing  success.  She 
concealed  the  Emperor's  death  lor  some  hours  and  made  pretexts 
to  detain  his  children  in  the  palace,  until  her  own  son  had  been 
proclaimed  Emperor  by  the  guards.  About  midday  the  doors 
of  the  palace  were  suddenly  thrown  open,  and  Nero  issued 
forth,  accompanied  by  Burrus,  into  the  presence  of  the  cohort 
which  was  then  on  duty.  The  prefect  gave  a  sign,  and  the 
soldiers  received  him  with  acclamations.  It  was  said  that  some 
hesitated,  and  asked  for  Britannicus;  but  this  demurring  was 
only  for  a  moment.  Nero  was  then  carried  in  a  litter  to  the 
praetorian  camp,  where  he  spoke  a  few  suitable  words  and  was 
saluted  Imperator.  This  was  the  second  occasion  on  which  the 
praetorians  created  an  Emperor,  and,  following  the  example  of  his 
"  father  "  Claudius,  Nero  promised  them  a  donative.  The  senate  did 
not  hesitate  to  accept  the  will  of  the  guards,  and  on  the  same  day 
(Oct.  13,  the  dies  imperil  of  Nero)  decreed  to  him  the  proconsular 
power  in  its  higher  unlimited  form,  the  prerogatives  embodied  in 
the  lex  de  imperio,  and  the  name  Augustus.  The  tribunician 
power,  which  was  necessary  to  complete  the  prerogatives  of  the 
Princeps,  was  conferred  upon  him  by  a  comitia  on  the  4th 
December.  The  legions  in  the  provinces  received  the  news  of  the 
new  principate  without  a  murmur  of  dissent. 

§  27.  According  to  custom,  the  senate  met  to  consider  the  acts 
of  Claudius.  He  was  fortunate  enough  to  receive  the  honours 
which  had  fallen  to  the  lot  of  his  model,  Augustus,  and  which  hi.- 
two  predecessors  had  missed.  He  was  judged  worthy  to  enter  into 
the  number  of  the  god?,  and  fiameus  were  appointed  for  his  worship. 


*  Juvenal  refers  to  this  in   the  lines 
(v.  147,  148) : 
Boletus  domino,  sed  quales  Claudius  edit 


Ante  ilium  uxoris,  post  quern  oil  ampliu- 
edit. 


256  THE  PRINCIPATE  OF  CLAUDIUS.       CHAP,  xv 

All  his  acts  were  decreed  to  be  valid.  His  funeral  was  ordered 
after  the  precedent  of  that  of  Augustus,  and  Agrippina  emulated 
the  magnificence  of  her  great  grandmother  Livia.  But  the  will 
of  the  deceased  sovran  was  not  read  in  public.  It  was  feared 
that  the  preference  shown  to  the  stepson  over  Britannicus  would 
cause  unpleasant  remarks. 

§  28.  Nero  pronounced  a  funeral  oration,  composed  by  L.  Annseus 
Seneca,  over  the  dead  Emperor.  One  of  Agrippina's  first  acts  after 
her  marriage  with  Claudius  had  been  to  recall  Seneca  from  his 
exile  in  Corsica  and  entrust  to  him  the  completion  of  her  son's 
education.  During  his  banishment  he  had  attempted,  by  the  arts 
of  flattery,  to  get  his  sentence  repealed,  and  had  addressed  a. 
treatise  to  the  freedman  Polybius,  into  which  he  wrought  an 
extravagant  panegyric  of  the  Emperor.  But  Claudius  had  paid 
no  heed,  and  Seneca  was  resolved  to  have  his  revenge.  He 
assailed  the  memory  of  the  Emperor,  soon  after  his  death,  in  an 
unsparing  and  remarkably  clever  satire,  entitled  the  Apocolocyn- 
tosis,  "  pumpkinification  " — a  play  on  "  apotheosis," — or,  other- 
wise, the  Indus  de  morte  Claudii  Csesaris.  The  arrival  of  Claudius 
in  heaven,  the  surprise  of  the  gods  at  seeing  his  strange  shaking 
figure,  and  hearing  his  indistinct  babble,  are  described  with  many 
jests.  '1  he  gods  deliberate  whether  they  should  admit  him,  and 
are  inclined  to  vote  in  his  favour,  when  the  divine  Augustus  arises 
and  tells  all  the  crimes  and  iniquities  which  have  stained  the  reign 
of  his  grandnephew.  The  gods  agree  that  he  deserves  to  be  ejected 
from  Olympus.  Mercury  immediately  seizes  him  by  the  neck,  and 
drags  him  to  the  place  whence  none  return — 

llluc  unde  negant  redire  quenquam. 

On  the  way  to  the  shades  he  passes  through  the  Via  Sacra,  where 
he  witnesses  his  own  funeral,  and  sees  the  Roman  people  "  walking 
about  as  if  they  were  free "  from  a  tyrant.*  When  he  reaches 
the  lower  regions  he  is  greeted  with  a  shout,  "  Claudius  will  come." 
He  is  surrounded  by  a  large  company,  consisting  of  the  victims  who 
had  perished  during  his  reign — senators,  knights,  freedmen,  kins- 
folk. "I  meet  friends  everywhere!  "  said  Claudius.  "  How  came 
ye  hither  ? "  "  Do  you  ask,  most  cruel  man  ?  "  was  the  reply ; 
"  who  else  but  thou  sent  us  hither,  murderer  of  all  thy  friends  ?  " 
He  was  then  led  before  the  tribunal  of  .ffiacus,  and  prosecuted  on 
the  basis  of  the  Lex  Cornelia  de  sicariis.  He  is  condemned  to  play 
for  ever  with  a  bottomless  dice-box. 

This  satire  of  Seneca  reflects  the  general  derision  which  was 
cast   unon    the   deification  of  Claudius.      The  addition  of  this 

*  itpuras  Romanus  ambulabat  tanquam  liber. 


54  A.D. 


APOTHEOSIS   OF   CLAUDIUS. 


257 


Emperor's  ridiculous  figure  to  the  number  of  the  celestials,  effec- 
tually dispelled  that  halo  of  divinity  with  which  Augustus  had 
sought  to  invest  the  Principate. 


Bunt  of  Agrippina,  daughter  of  Germanicus  (from  the  bust  in  the  Capitol> 


Messalina  (from  the  bust  in  the  Capitol). 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

THE   CONQUEST   OF   BRITAIN. 

1.  Designs  of  Augustus  to  conquer  Britain.  Policy  of  his  successors. 
Reasons  for  the  undertaking.  Diplomatic  relations  with  Britain. 
§  2.  Preparations  of  Claudius  for  the  expedition  (43  A.D.).  Aulus 
Plnutius.  §  3.  Landing  of  the  forces.  Campaign  of  Plautius,  and 
victory  over  the  Trinovantes.  Claudius  in  Britain.  §  4.  Triumph  of 
Claudius.  §  5.  Extension  of  the  conquest  under  Plautius  (43-47  A.D.). 
§  6.  Ostorins  Scapula  succeeds  PI  mtius.  Revolt  of  the  Jceni.  §  7. 
War  with  Silures  and  Ordovices  in  the  west.  Caractacus.  Great 
Roman  victory  (51  A.D.).  Caractacus  at  Rome.  §  8.  Warfare  con- 
tinued in  the  west.  Foundation  of  a  colony  at  Camalodunum.  §  9. 
Didius  Gallus  governor  of  Kritain.  §  10.  Suetonius  Paulinus  (59- 
61  A.D.)  governor.  Campaign  in  Mona.  §  11.  Revolt  of  he  Iceni 
and  eastern  districts;  suppressed  by  Suetonius.  Results.  §  12. 
Recall  of  Suetonius,  who  is  succeeded  by  Turpilianus. 

SECT.  I. — CONQUEST  OP  SOUTHERN  BRITAIN  BY  PLAUTIUS, 

§  1.    THE  conquest    of   Britain   was    one    of    the    tasks  which 
the  great  Csesar  left  to  the  Csesars  who  were  to  come  after  him. 


34,  27  B.U.    KEASONS    FUK    JNVADlNli    B1UTA1V. 


259 


Like  the  conquest  of  Germany,  it  was  an  undertaking  to  which 
the  subjugation  of  Gwl  naturally  led.  And  although  his  first 
successors  «iid  not  cross  the  channel  a-*  they  crossed  the  Rhine,  the 
island  of  the  north  was  by  no  means  forgotten.  On  two  occasions 
Augustus  had  made  preparations  for  an  expedition  against  Briiain, 
and  both  times  the  enterprise  had  fallen  through.  He  was  about 
to  invade  the  island  in  34  B.C.  when  he  was  recalled  from  Gaul  by 
the  rebellion  in  Dalmatia;  and  the  poetical  literature  of  the  follow- 
ing years  shows  that  the  conquest  of  "ultima  Thule"  was  an 
achievement  to  which  the  Romans  looked  forward  with  confidence 
as  destined  to  be  accomplished  when  ihe  civil  wars  were  over.* 
Horace  deplores  that  Romans  should  turn  their  swords  against 
each  other,  instead  of  lea- 'ing  the  "chained  Briton"  down  the 
Via  Sacra,  f  In  27  B.C.,  after  his  accession,  Augustus  was  believed 
to  be  about  to  fulfil  their  expectations,  and  a«ld  a  new  province  to 
the  Empire.  Horace  beseeches  Fortune  to  preserve  Caesar,  about 
to  set  forth  against  the  Britons  who  live  in  the  ends  of  the  earth.J 
It  is  uncertain  why  this  intention  was  not  carried  out ;  perhaps  the 
Cantabiian  war  and  the  hostilities  of  the  Saiassi,  which  occupied  his 
attention  at  this  time,  made  Augustus  shrink  from  undertaking 
further  waifare.  At  all  events,  the  idea  of  subduing  Britain  was 
not  again  resumed  by  Augustus.  Tiberius  confessed  that  the 
occupation  of  Biitain  was  necessary,  but,  through  reverence  for  the 
precept  of  Augustus  against  extending  the  Empire,  retrained  from 
attempting  it.  The  problem  also  engaged  the  attention  of  Gains, 
and  we  saw  how  his  undertaking  ended  in  a  ridiculous  demonstration 
on  the  Gallic  shore.  Strange  to  say,  the  conquest  of  Britain,  which 
Caesar  himself  had  failed  to  accomplish  in  two  attempts,  which 
Augustus  deemed  too  difficult,  which  Tiberius  shrank  from,  was 
reserved  for  the  arms  of  Claudius.  And  we  are  led  to  believe  that 
the  idea  was  his  own,  and  not  the  suggestion  of  his  councillors. 
The  importance  of  occupying  Britain  was  perhaps  brought  home  to 
him  when  he  endeavoured  to  suppress  the  druidical  worship  in 
Gaul.  The  constant  communication  which  existed  between  the 
northern  coast  of  Gaul  and  the  opposite  island  rendered  it  hopeless 
to  stamp  out  the  barbarous  rites  as  long  as  Britain  was  not  in  the 
hands  of  Rome.  Moreover,  the  fact  that  his  model,  Augustus,  had 
contemplated  the  redaction  of  the  islan-1,  was  a  recommendation  of 
the  enterprise  to  Claudius.  It  is  probable,  too,  that  he  was 
encouraged  by  his  freedmen,  who  may  have  entertained  an  ex- 


*  Virgil,  Oeorgics,  i.  30  :    Tibi  serviat 
ultima  Thule  (published  B.C.  30). 
f  Epod.  vii.  7  :  Britannus  ut  descenderet 
Sacra  catenatug  via. 


J  Odes,  i.  35,  29  : 

Serves  iturura  (Jiesareiu  in  ultimo* 

Orbia  Britannos. 


260  THE   CONQUEST   OF   BRITAIN          CHAP.  xvi. 

aggerated  idea  of  the  wealth  of  the  island,  and  hoped  to  profit 
by  it. 

Friendly  relations  had  been  maintained  with  British  kings  by 
Augustus  and  Tiberius.  Exiled  princes  sought  refuge  with 
Augustus  and  Gaius.  The  immediate  occasion  of  the  expedition  of 
Claudius  is  said  to  have  been  the  request  for  succour  addressed  to 
him  by  Bericus,  who,  owing  to  domestic  feuds,  had  fled  from 
his  country  and  became  the  suppliant  of  Claudius,  as  Adminius 
had  been  the  suppliant  of  Gaius.  This  Bericus  was  probably 
a  son  of  the  king  of  the  Atrebates,  who  dwelled  between  the 
Severn  and  the  Thames.  But  the  restoration  of  this  native  was 
merely  a  pretext  for  carrying  out  at  length  what  had  long  been 
inevitable. 

§  2.  The  Emperor  resolved  to  visit  Britain  himself,  and  win  the 
honour  of  personally  achieving  a  great  conquest  and  adding  a  new 
province  to  the  empire.  But  it  was  arranged  that  the  way  should 
be  prepared  before  him,  so  that  he  could  arrive  in  time  to  witness 
the  final  scene.  Four  legions  were  assigned  to  the  expedition, 
three  Irom  the  German  provinces,  and  one  from  Pann«»rJa.  Their 
numbers  and  names  were : — II.  Augusta  and  XIV.  Gemina,  from 
Upper  Germany  ;  XX.  Valeria  Victrix,  from  Lower  Germany ;  and 
IX.  Hispana,  from  Pannonia.  Besides  these,  there  were  the  usual 
contingents  of  auxiliary  troops,  cohorts  of  infantry  and  alx  of 
cavalry.  Aulus  Plautius  Silvanus  was  selected  to  command  the 
expedition.  He  was  a  relation  of  Plautia  Urgulanilla,  the  divorced 
wife  of  Claudius,  and  is  described  as  a  "  senator  of  the  highest 
repute."  At  this  time  he  doubtless  held  command  in  some  of  the 
provinces  from  which  legions  were  drafted  for  the  expedition — either 
Upper  or  Lower  Germany,  or  possibly  Belgica.  He  was  supported 
by  many  able  and  distinguished  officers,  whose  selection  shows 
what  importance  was  attached  to  the  expedition.  Among  them 
must  be  mentioned  L.  Galba — destined  one  day  to  be  an  Emperor 
himself — an  able  officer  whom  we  have  already  met  as  legatus  of 
Upper  Germany.  The  legatus  of  the  Hud  legion  was  Flavius 
Vespasifinos,  also  destined  like  Galba,  to  rule  the  Roman  world. 
Cn.  Hosidins  Geta,  who  had  conn  leted  the  work  of  Suetonius 
Paulinus  in  Mauretania,  was  probably  the  commander  of  another 
le.-ion.  Valerius  Asiaticus,  who  afterwards  fell  a  victim  to 
JVIcssalina,  and  Cn.  Sentius  Saturninua  may  also  be  mentioned, 

It  has  been  calculated  that  the  whole  forces  amounted  to  up- 
v  ards  cf  sixty  thousand  men,*  and  an  enormous  transport  fleet  was 
neces  ary  to  convey  them  to  the  British  coast.  For  this  purpose 
ships  were  sent  to  Gesoriacum  (Boulogne),  from  the  naval  stations  of 

*  Mommsen  rates  the  force  as  low  as  40,000,  Htlhner  as  high  as  70,000. 


43  A.D.  EXPEDITION   OF   PLAUTIUS.  261 

Italy,  Ravenna  and  Misenum.  Early  in  43  A.D.  the  army  assembled 
near  the  place  where,  just  one  hundred  years  before,  Csesar  had 
embarked  on  the  same  errand.*  But  the  difficulties  of  those 
first,  unsuccessful  attempts  were  remembered  in  the  army.  The 
soldiers  murmured  and  showed  a  mutinous  spirit  when  Plautius 
revealed  the  object  of  the  expedition.  Plautius  sent  the  news 
to  Rome  and  Claudius  dispatched  Narcissus  to  restore  order. 
The  freedman  harangued  the  turbulent  troops,  and  they,  con- 
tented with  mocking  him  as  a  slave,  submitted  to  the  Emperor's 
wishes. 

§  3.  The  British  coast  was  reached  safely,  though  not  without  some 
difficulty  from  adverse  weather,  and  the  invading  army  disembarked 
in  three  harbours,  without  encountering  any  resistance  from  the 
Britons.  It  seems  probable  that  these  harbours  were  on  the  coast 
of  Sussex  and  Kent ;  some  think  that  ft  landing  was  made  as  far 
west  as  Portsmouth.  It  is  impossible  to  determine  with  anything 
like  certainty  the  line  of  Roman  advance,  but  it  is  clear  that  their 
first  object  was  to  overcome  the  Trinovantes,  whose  home  was  north 
of  the  Thamesis  (Thames),  in  the  territory  which  now  forms  the 
counties  of  Essex  and  Hertford,  but  whose  sway  extended  over 
south-eastern  Britain.  In  the  days  of  Csesar,  their  leader,  Cassivel- 
launus,  had  formed  a  league  to  oppose  the  invaders.  Their  capital 
was  then  at  Verulamium  (St.  Albans),  but  Cunobellinus — the 
origin  of  Shakespeare's  Cymbeline — had  transferred  it  to  Camalo- 
.dununi  (Colchester).  The  sons  of  Cunobellinus,  by  name  Caractacus  f 
and  Togodumnus,  commanded  the  Trinovantes,  and  took  the  field 
against  Plautius.  Their  tactics  were  to  draw  the  invaders  into 
woody  and  marshy  country,  but  they  were  both  defeated  in  two 
distinct  battles.  The  Boduni,  one  of  the  tribes  which  were  ruled 
over  by  these  princes,  submitted,  and  received  a  Roman  garrison. 
Soon  afterwards,  the  legions,  drawn  on  by  the  barbarians,  and 
perhaps  conducted  by  the  friendly  Atrebates,  reached  a  certain  river, 
which  may  possibly  be  the  Medway.  The  Britons  offered  a 
stubborn  resistance,  but  at  length,  after  two  days'  fighting,  the 
Romans  effected  a  crossing.  On  this  occasion,  Vespasian  and 
Hosidius  Geta  particularly  distinguished  themselves.  The  enemy 
then  fell  back  behind  the  Thamesis.  The)'  were  followed  by  the 
Batavian  auxiliaries,  who  swam  across  the  stream,  and  by  some 
Roman  troops  who  crossed  by  a  bridge  higher  up ;  but  these  forces 
were  beaten  back,  and  Plautius  determined  to  wait  for  the  arrival 
of  the  Emperor  with  reinforcements  before  crossing  the  Thames 
and  striking  the  final  blow.  In  the  meantime  he  was  able  to 

*  Caesar  had  embarked  from  Portus  t  f  The  more  correct  form  of  the  name 
Itius;  perhaps  Wissant.  )  swms  to  be  Caratacus. 


262 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  BRITAIN.         CHAP,  xn 


secure  the  ground  which  he  had  won,  and  it  seems  likely  that  at 
this  time  King  Cogidubnus  declared  for  the  Romans.  He  seems 
to  have  been  the  |>rmce  of  the  Regni,  whose  capital  town  has  been 
identified  with  Chichester.  He  proved  himself  a  firm  friend  of  the 
Romans,  and  received  as  a  icward  from  Claudius  Roman  citizenship, 
the  title  of  legatus  Auyusti,  and  a  grant  of  territory — apparently 
his  original  possessions.  A  monument  of  him,  as  Tiberius  Claudius 
Cogidubnus — he  assumed  the  Emperor's  name — may  be  still  seen 
in  Goodwood  Park.* 

Leaving  the  conduct  of  affairs  at  Rome  during  his  absence  to 
L.  Vitellius,  Claudius,  with  a  large  retinue,  embarked  for  Massilia 
(about  July),  crossed  Gaul  an»i  reached  the  Romnn  camp,  probably 
somewhere  near  Londiniuui  (London),  before  the  end  of  the  military 
season.  A  great  battle  was  fought  under  the  imperial  auspices;  the 
Britons  were  routed  and  Camnlodunum,  the  capital  of  the  Trino- 
vantes,  was  taken.  Claudius  was  saluted  Imperator  by  the  army 
more  than  once,  although  only  a  single  assumption  of  the  title 
in  a  single  campaign  was  allowed  by  usage.  He  honoun  d  Camalo- 
dunum  by  a  visit,  and  selected  it  to  be  the  centre  of  the  Romauisation 
of  Britain. 

§  4.  The  Emperor  remained  only  sixteen  days  in  the  island,  and, 
leaving  the  consolidation  and  extension  of  the  conquest  to  his 
general,  he  recrossad  the  channel,  spent  the  winter  in  Gaul,  and 
reached  Rome  in  the  following  spring  (44  A.D.).  His  son-in-law 
Pompeius,  and  L.  Silanus,  who  had  attended  him  on  his  journey, 
were  sent  forward  to  announce  the  victory.  The  senate  decreed  to 
the  conqueror  of  Britain  the  honour  of  a  triumph,  and  the  title 
Britannicus,  which,  however,  he  declined  for  himself  but  accepted 
for  hi*  infant  son.  r\  hey  also  decreed  the  erection  of  two  triumphal 
arches,  one  in  the  Campus  Martins,  the  other  at  Gesoriacum.  In 
the  inscription  on  the  Roman  arch,  which  has  been  partly  pre- 
served, Claudius  boasts  that  he  subdued  eleven  kings f  The 
rejoicings  were  marked  by  the  mimic  representation  in  the 
Campus  Martius  of  the  siege  of  a  British  town  and  the  submission 
of  Biitish  chieftains.  The  part  which  the  fleet  had  played  in  the 
expedition  was  afterwards  celebrated  by  naval  manoeuvres 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Padus.  Claudius  was  not  a  little  proud  of 
having  outdone  his  three  predecessors  by  adding  a  province  to  the 


*  The  Inscription  is  as  follows : 
[II]eptuno  et  Minervae  templum  [pr]o 
salute  Do[mus]  Divina;  [ex]  auctoritate 
[Ti.]  Claud.  [Cojgidubni  R.  I  ega  [ti]Aug. 
in  Brit.  [Collegium  fabror.  et  qui  in  eo 
d.  8.  d.  (de  suo  da*  t)  donante  aream 
fdwnjente  Pudentini  31. 


t  Quod  reges  Britannia!  xf.  devictos 
sine  ulla  iactura  in  «'e  it'onem  acceperit 
gentesque  barbaras  trans  oceauum  primus 
in  dicionem  populi  Romani  redegerit. 

Another  triumphal  arch  was  erected  at 
Cyzicus. 


43-47  A.D.    F1KST   LIMITS   OF   THE   TKOVINCE 


263 


Empire,  and  the  achievement  scermd  greater  from  the  circumstance 
that  the  new  province  was  be\oud  ti  e  oc<  an.* 

An  important  cons  quenoe  of  ih-'  conquest  of  Claudius  was  the 
decree  of  the  set  aie  that  tre  lies  made  l>y  Claudius  or  his  legati 
shoiiid  be  valid,  just  as  if  they  had  been  made  l.y  the  senate  or 
the  Roman  people.  This  measure  was  intended  to  facilitate  the 
reduction  of  the  distant  island. 


SECT.  II. — ADMINISTRATION  AND  EXTENSION  OF  THE   PROVINCE 
U^DER  PLAUTIFJS,  USTOKIUS  AND  DIDIUS. 

§  5.  The  true  conqiuror  of  Britain,  was  Aulus  Plautius,  and  he 
remained  theie  until  47  A.D  ,  as  Igafus  pro  prcetore  of  the  new 
province.  During  these  years  the  progress  ot  the  conqii«st  went 
on,  chiefly  in  the  west  and  south.  Vespasian  and  his  broiher 
Flavins  Sabinus  played  a  prominent  part  in  bieaking  the  resistance 
of  the  natives.  Vts]:asian  is  said  10  have  fought  thirty  battles 
during  his  command  in  Britain,  ai  d  to  have  captured  twenty 
places.  One  of  his  chief  achievements  was  the  reduction  of 
Vectis,  the  Isle  of  Wight.  The  Romans  must  also  have  penetrated 
to  the  border  of  Somersetshire  at  this  period;  lor  there  have  been 
found  in  the  Mendip  Hills  two  pigs  of  lead,  with  the  names  of 
Claudius  and  his  son,  dating  from  the  year  49  A.D.  In  the  east, 
the  Iceni,  a  powerful  tribe,  who  h<  Id  the  regions  which,  after  the 
English  conquest,  became  East  Anglia,  submitted  to  Roman 
overlordship.  It  may  be  said  roughly,  that  a  line  drawn  from 
Aquse  Sulis  (Ba'h)  to  Lnndinium,  passing  through  Calleva  (Sil- 
chester)  and  extended  so  as  to  take  in  Camalodunnm,  n  ay 
roughly  define  the  limits  of  Koman  Britain,  when  Plautius  was 
recalled.  Plautius  received  the  reward  of  an  ovation, — a  rare 
distinction  under  the  Empire  for  anyone  not  belonging  to  the 
impei  ial  family. 

§  6.  The  successor  of  Plautius  was  P.  Ostorius  Scapula,  and  im- 
mediately on  his  arrival,  towards  the  close  of  the  season,  he  was 
called  upon  to  subdue  a  rising  of  the  Idni.  The  Iceni  wer-  ail 
the  more  formidable  as  their  strength  ha  i  not  yet  been  weakened 
by  war.  They  instigated  the  surround, ng  tribes  to  take  up  a  ms, 
and  chose  as  a  battle-field  a  plac<;  enclo>ed  by  a  rudo  birrl-r,  v\itii 


*  The  epigrams  which  were  composed 
at  the  time  of  the  triumph  illustrate  tins. 
For  example : 
Mars  pater,  et  nostrfe  gentis  tutela  Quirine, 

Et  magno  positus  C#«ar  uterque  polo, 


Cernitis  ignoto   l.atia  sub  lege  Britannos? 

8)1  citra  nostrum  flectitnr  oceanum. 
Ultima  «-esserunt  adaperto  claustra  pro- 
fundo 

Et  iam  Romano  cingimur  Oceano. 


264  THE   CONQUEST   OF   BRITAIN.          CHAP.  xvi. 

a  narrow  approach  and  impenetrable  to  cavalry.*  Os  tor  ins  led 
the  auxiliary  troops  without  the  strength  of  the  legions  —  whose 
presence  in  other  parts  of  the  country  was  necessary  —  against  these 
defences,  and  attempted  to  break  through  them.  He  equipped  the 
cavalry  to  do  the  duty  of  infantry,  and  succeeded  in  forcing  the 
harriers.  The  rebels,  finding  escape  impossible,  fought  desperately; 
and  the  general's  son,  Marcus  Ostorius,  won  the  civic  crown  for 
saving  a  citizen's  life.  Those  tribes  which  were  hesitating  between 
war  and  peace  were  quieted  by  this  defeat  of  the  Iceni. 

§  7.  But  the  main  work  of  Ostorius  lay  in  the  west.  The  peoples 
of  the  mountainous  districts  of  Wales  presented  a  stubborn  re- 
sistance to  the  progress  of  Roman  arms  in  that  direction  ;  and  they 
were  organised  by  the  indomitable  spirit  of  Caractacus,  who,  when 
his  own  people,  the  Trinovantes,  were  irretiievably  overthrown, 
retreated  to  the  west  and  there  maintained  with  vigour  and  success 
the  struggle  for  British  independence.  The  remains  of  the  British 
entrenchments  in  the  counties  which  bonier  on  Wales,  are  probably 
a  record  of  this  struggle.  Grlevum  (Gloucester)  seems  at  this 
time  to  have  become  the  headquarters  of  the  Ilnd  legion,  and 
Ostorius  probably  drew  a  line  of  forts  from  this  point  across  country 
to  Camalodunum.t  Ostorius  first  attacked  the  Decangi,  an 
obscure  tribe,  who  dwelled  probably  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Deva, 
(Chester),  and  then  advanced  into  the  hilly  land  of  the  Silures, 
whose  habitation  corresponded  to  Hereford,  Monmouth  and  South 
Wales.  The  position  of  Viroconium,  (Wroxeter),  was  occupied 
as  a  stronghold  against  the  Ordovices  and  became  for  some  time 
the  headquarters  of  the  XlVth  legion. 

The  Britons  were  far  inferior  in  military  strength,  but  Caractacus 
knew  how  to  take  advantage  of  the  intricacies  of  the  country. 
After  a  struggle  of  three  years,  he  changed  the  scene  of  war  from 
the  land  of  the  Silures  northward  to  the  territory  of  the  Ordovices, 
and  thus  compelled  the  Roman  army  to  retrace  its  steps  under 
great  difficulties  (51  A.D.).  He  then  resolved  on  bringing  the  war 
to  a  final  issue.  He  chose  a  position  for  the  battle,  in  which  it 
would  be  easy  for  his  own  forces,  and  difficult  for  the  Romans, 
either  to  advance  or  retreat  ;  and  piled  up  stone  ramparts  on  some 
lofty  hills  wherever  the  slope  was  gentle  enough  to  admit  of  an 
approach.^  A  river  lay  in  front  of  his  position,  and  he  drew  up 

f  It  is  possible,  however,  that  this  line 
was  further  north,  co  responding  to  the 
line  of  the  Severn,  Avon,  and  Trent.  Se« 
Notes  and  Illustrations,  B.,  at  end  of  this 
chapter. 


*  There  are  no  data  for  determining  the 
locality  of  the  battle.  Scarth  supposed  it 
to  be  Burrough  Hill,  near  Daventry.  It 
may  be  mentioned  that  the  remains  of  one 
of  the  embankments  of  the  Iceni  is  still 
traceable  in  the  Devil's  Dvke,  which 
crosses  the  road  from  Cambridge  to  New- 
market. 


It  is  useless  to  attempt  to  fix  the 
place.  One  guess  is  Coxall  Knoll,  near 
Leintwardine,  the  river  being  the  Teme. 


51  A.D.  CAltACTAOUS.  265 

his  men  before  the  defences.  He  made  a  stirring  appeal  to  his 
followers  to  recover  their  freedom,  and  every  warrior  swore  by  the 
gods  of  his  tribe  to  shrink  neither  from  wounds  nor  weapons.  The 
Roman  general  was  somewhat  daunted  by  the  enthusiasm  of  the 
foe,  the  river  in  front  of  him,  the  frowning  hills  behind,  but  the 
soldiers  insisted  on  accepting  battle.  Having  made  a  careful 
survey  of  the  assailable  points  in  the  enemy's  position,  Ostorius 
led  his  troops  across  the  river  without  difficulty,  and  attacked  the 
barrier.  As  long  as  it  was  a  fight  with  missiles,  the  Romans  had 
the  worst  of  it,  but  when  the  te»tudo  was  formed,  and  the  soldiers 
advanced  with  locked  shields,  the  rude  fence  was  easily  thrown 
down,  and  the  barbarians  were  forced  to  retire  up  the  heights. 
The  Romans  pursued  them,  and  as  the  Britons  had  no  defensive 
armour  their  ranks  were  soon  broken.  When  they  turned  to  oppose 
the  light-armed  auxiliaries,  the  legionaries  hewed  them  down  behind 
with  swords  and  javelins ;  when  they  turned  round  to  resist  the 
legionaries,  they  were  attacked  by  the  spears  and  sabres  of  the 
auxiliaries.  It  was  a  great  and  decisive  victory.  The  wife  and 
daughter  of  Caractacus  were  immediately  captured,  his  brothers 
surrendered,  and  he  was  soon  afterwards  taken  prisoner  through 
the  treachery  of  Cartimandua,  queen  of  the  Brigantes,  to  whom  he 
had  fled  for  refuge,  and  was  sent  to  Rome. 

His  fame  was  celebrated  in  Italy,  and  all  were  eager  to  see  the 
hero  who  had  defied  the  Roman  power  for  nine  years.  The  people 
of  Rome  were  summoned  as  to  a  great  spectacle;  the  pratorian 
cohorts  were  drawn  up  in  front  of  their  camp.  A  procession  of 
the  clients  of  the  British  prince  defiled  before  the  Emperor's 
tribunal;  the  ornaments  and  chains  of  Caractacus  and  the  spoil* 
which  he  had  won  in  war  with  other  tribes  were  displayed.  Then 
followed  his  brothers,  his  wife,  and  his  daughter ;  last  of  all  the 
warrior  himself.  While  all  the  others  were  cowed  into  humility, 
Caractacus  did  not  seek  to  move  compassion  either  by  word  or 
look.  Claudius  pardoned  him  and  his  kinsfolk;  and  the  captives, 
released  from  their  chains,  did  homage  to  the  Emperor  and 
Agrippina,  who  sat  on  another  throne  beside  him,  although  it  was 
an  unheard  of  thing  that  a  woman  should  sit  on  the  tribunal  of  the 
Imperator  surrounded  by  the  standards.  After  this  solemnity  the 
senate  assembled  and  laudatory  speeches  were  delivered  on  the 
capture  of  Caractacus,  which  was  compared  to  the  exhibition  of 
Syphax  by  Scipio,  or  that  of  Perseus  by  JSmilius  Paullus.  Caractacus 
was  retained,  like  the  Suevian  Mrtroboduus,  in  an  honourable 
custody  until  his  death.  Ostorius  received  the  triumphal  orna- 
ments. 

§  8.  This  victory,  although  decisive,  was  by  no  means  equivalent 
12 


266  THE   CONQUEST   OF   BKITAIN  CHAP.  xvi. 

to  the  subjugation  of  western  Britain.  The  quarters  of  the  Ilnd 
legion  were  established  further  west,  at  Isca  Silurum  (Ca<  rleon 
on  the  Usk,  to  be  distinguished  from  Isca  Durnnoniorum,  Exeter), 
and  it  was  exposed  there  to  great  dangers,  sustaining  several 
s^iious  reverses.  At  the  same  time  the  great  tribe  of  the 
Brigantes  in  the  north,  who  held  all  the  land  north  of  the  Tient 
at  least  as  far  as  the  Tyne,  displayed  signs  of  hostility  to  the 
Romans.  Scapula  did  not  long  survive  his  victory.  He  died  in 
52  A.D.,  worn  out,  it  was  said,  by  the  troublesome  and  exhausting 
warfare  against  the  Silures.  During  the  folowini  six  years,  under 
the  administration  of  A'dus  Didius  Gallus  (52-57  AD)  and 
Veranius  (57-58  A.D.),  the  limits  of  the  province  do  not  seem  to 
have  been  extended. 

The  governorship  of  Ostorius  Scapula  was  also  marked  by  the 
plantation  of  the  first  military  colony.  The  ancient  capital  of 
Ounohellinus  was  chosen,  to  hold  somewhat  the  same  poddon  in 
Britain  that  Lugudutmm  held  in  Gaul.  It  is  remarkable  that 
this  place  was  preferred  to  Londinium,  which  was  commercially 
the  most  considerable  town  in  Britain.  Under  Cunobell  nns, 
Camalodunum  had  assumed  "an  importance  eclipsing  that  of  all 
other  British  'op | >id «,'  though  still  apparently  resembling  the  general 
type  in  consisting  of  a  large  enclosed  tract  of  some  square  miles, 
protected  on  the  east,  north,  and  south  by  the  tidal  marshes  of  the 
Colne  and  its  small  tiibutary  (still  tailed  the  Roman  river),  and  on 
its  assailable  side,  the  west,  by  strong  earthworks,  in  part  still 
traceable,  from  stream  to  stream."*  The  official  name  given  to 
the  new  colony  was  Colonia  Yictrix,  and  a  temple  was  erected  to 
Claudius,  lor  the  purpose  of  <  stabli-hin^  a  provncial  worship  like 
that  which  Augustus  had  instituted  in  Gaul.  A  theatre  and  o'hcr 
buildings  soon  sprang  up,  but,  like  Loud  nium  and  Verulamium,  it 
was  lett  unwalled  and  inadequately  de'ended. 

§  9.  When  Didius  arrived  in  the  pro v  i nee,  he  found  that  one  of 
the  legions  under  Manlius  Valens  had  been  defeated  by  the  Silur*  s, 
who  were  scouring  the  country  far  and  wide.  Having  dispersed 
them,  he  was  olliged  to  turn  his  arms  against  the  Brigantes.  A 
chief  of  this  tribe  named  Venutius,  was,  since  the  capture  of 
Caractacus,  the  foremost  warrior  and  the  a1  lest  leader  in  the  cause 
of  British  independence.  He  had  for  many  years  been  faithful  to 
Rome,  and  had  been  united  in  marriage  to  the  queen  Cartimand'ia. 
But  they  quarrelled  and  were  divotdd;  a  domestic  war  followed, 
and  while  the  queen  held  to  the  Romans,  Venutius  c  anged  his 
attitude  to  them  also.  By  wily  stratagems  Cartiman<lua  got  into 
her  power  the  brothers  and  kinsmen  of  Veuutius,  and  this  led  to 
*  Furneaux,  Tacitus,  vol.  ii.  p.  142. 


59-61  A.D.  CAMALODUNUM.  267 

an  invasion  of  her  kingdom  by  the  flower  of  the  British  youth. 
Roman  cohorts  were  sent  to  the  assistance  of  the  Queen,  and 
effectually  protected  her.  Desultory  warfare  seems  to  have  con- 
tinued during  the  following  years,  but  no  further  events  of  import- 
ance are  recorded  in  the  governorship  of  Didius.  Veranius  his 
successor  (A.D.  58)  made  some  small  raids  upon  the  Silures,  but 
was  prevented  by  deaih  from  continuing  the  war. 

SECT.  III.-— GOVERNORSHIP  OF  SUETONIUS  PAULINUS. 

§  10.  A  new  advance  was  made  when  the  able  and  ambitious 
Suetonius  Paulinus,  who  had  distinguished  himself  in  Mauretania, 
was  appointed  legatns  in  59  A.D.  It  was  he  probably  who  occupied 
Deva,  and  made  it  the  quarters  ot  the  XXth  legion — "the  Camp" 
as  it  came  to  be  called,  Castra  or  Cluster.  Deva  seived  as  a  post 
against  North  Waies  on  the  one  side  and  against  the  Brigantes 
on  t'-e  other.  It  is  probable  that  he  spent  his  first  two  years  in 
subduing  the  northern  parts  of  Wales,  and  in  61  A.D.  he  pushed 
forward  with  the  XlVth  legion  to  exterminate  the  Druidical 
worship  in  its  extreme  retreat.  The  Mritish  priesthood  had  retired 
to  the  island  of  Mona,  the  present  Anglesey,  where  they  hoped  to 
be  able  to  protect  themselves  by  the  strait.  But  Suetonius  was 
not  foiled.  He  prepared  rafts  for  the  transport  of  his  infantry 
across  the  stream,  and  landed  on  the  shore  of  th^  island  in  the  face 
of  a  dense  array  of  Britons,  while  in  the  background  the  women, 
dressed  in  black,  and  with  dishevelled  hair,  brandished  torches,  and 
the  priests  imprecated  curses  on  those  who  had  come  to  disturb 
them.  Panic  seized  the  llomaus,  but  not  for  long.  The  landing, 
was  f-rced,  the  enemy  was  utterly  routed,  and  the  sacred  groves 
were  cut  down  or  burnt.  It  was  probably  in  connection  with  this 
expedition  that  Segontium,  whose  name  is  still  preserved  in  Caer 
Seiont,  was  founded. 

§  11.  But  while  Suetonius  was  busy  in  the  west,  a  great 
insurrection  broke  out  in  the  east.  The  Iceni  were  the  ringleaders. 
This  tribe,  under  its  king  Piasutag"s,  had  been  suffered,  notwith- 
standing its  former  revolt,  to  r  tain  its  position  of  a  client  tributary 
state.  The  heavy  exactions  imposed  by  the  fiscus,  and  the  violence 
and  insolence  of  the  imperial  procurator  in  levying  the  dues, 
excited  general  discontent.  The  British  communities  weie  com- 
p-lied  to  borrow  from  Koraan  money-lenders  in  order  to  meet  these 
exactions;  and  S<  neca  is  stated  to  have  directly  promoted  the 
rebellion  by  suddenly  calling  in  his  investments.  On  the  de>ith  of 
the  king  the  land  of  the  Iceni  was  annexed  to  the  province. 
Prasutagus  had  made  the  Emperor  his  heir  along  with  his  two 


268  THE   CONQUEST   OF   BRITAIN.          CHAP.  xvi. 

daughters,  thinking  that  this  compliment  would  secure  his 
fanily  and  his  kingdom  from  injury  at  the  hands  of  the 
Romans.  But  it  turned  out  quite  the  reverse.  The  agents  of 
tho  imperial  procurator  plundered  the  house  of  the  dead  king  on 
tho  pica  of  exacting  the  inheritance,  and  treated  his  family  with 
outrage.  His  wife  Boadicea*  was  beaten  with  stripes,  and  his 
daughters  were  dishonoured.  His  relations  were  made  slaves,  and 
ihe  chief  men  of  the  tribe  were  stript  of  their  property.  The 
Iconi  v/ore  roused  by  these  indignities  and  the  fear  of  worse,  and 
ihcy  Tound  allies  in  the  Trinovantes,  who  smarted  under  the 
violence  of  the  veterans  settled  at  Camalodunum.  These  colonists 
drove  £Ke  natives  out  of  their  houses  and  farms,  and  the  priests 
who  officiated  at  the  temple  of  the  Divine  Clau*lius,  levied  heavy 
enactions  for  the  maintenance  of  the  alien  worship. 

rebels  chose  a  moment  at  which  all  the  legions  were  far 
end  marched  against  Camalodunum.  The  inhabitants  im- 
plcrccl  help  from  the  procurator  Catus  Decianus,  who  sent  a 
reinforcement  of  two  hundred  men  without  regular  arms.  But  the 
place  vTCS  undefended  either  by  fosse  or  by  rampart ;  and  secret 
accomplices  in  the  revolt  hindered  them  from  taking  fitting  pre- 
cautionrjo  They  did  not  even  remove  the  women  and  old  men,  but 
all  fcooli  I'oftige  in  the  temple  of  Claudius,  hoping  that  succour 
noighft  come.  An  immense  host  of  Britons  surrounded  the  place 
and  the  sanctuary  was  stormed  after  a  siege  of  two  days.  All  the 
defenders  were  put  to  death  with  the  greatest  cruelty.  The  tidings 
of  the  outbreak  first  reached  Petillius  Cerealis,  the  commander  of 
legion  IX,  which,  though  its  station  at  this  moment  is  not 
known,f  was  nearest  the  scene  of  the  revolt.  He  hurried  to  attack 
the  insurgents,  but  in  a  great  battle  the  infantry  was  cut  to  pieces, 
and  only  the  cavalry  escaped.  Petillius  could  not  do  more  than 
hold  his  entrenchments  until  the  arrival  of  Suetonius,  who  was 
hastening  eastward,  with  legion  XIV.  from  Mona,  reinforced  by 
the  veterans  of  the  XXth,  which  he  picked  up  at  Deva.  Legionaries 
and  auxiliaries,  in  all,  his  forces  amounted  to  about  10,000  men. 
He  had  intended  that  legion  II.,  stationed  at  Isca  Silurum, 
should  also  march  eastward  in  this  great  emergency,  but  the 
commander  disobeyed  the  summons,  on  the  plea,  doubtless,  of 
troubles  with  the  Silures. 

In  order  not  to  dissipate  his  forces,  Suetonius  was  obliged  to  leave 
the  important  and  populous  towns  of  Londinium  and  Verulamium 
to  the  fury  and  greed  of  the  insurgents,  who,  having  burnt  the 
Glaudian  colony,  were  marching  about,  bent  on  destruction.  The 

*  Boudieca  spcms  to  be  the  proper  form. 

f  Pome  think  Lindum ;  but  it  is  doubtful  whether  Linduni  was  yet  Komim 


REVOLT  OF  THE  ICENI. 


269 


movemeuts  of  the  Homau  general  are  very  uncertain,  but  the 
decisive  battle  seems  to  have  taken  place  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  Camalodunum.*  He  chose  his  own  battle-ground.  The  position 
which  he  selected  was  approached  by  a  narrow  defile,  and  closed  at 
the  other  end  by  a  forest.  In  front  extended  an  open  plain,  where 
there  was  no  danger  from  ambuscades.  In  this  position  he  could 
not  be  outflanked  or  surrounded  in  the  rear — the  chief  dangers, 
from  the  superior  numbers  of  the  enemy.  The  legions  were  drawn 
up  in  close  array,  round  them  the  light-armed  cohorts;  and  the 
cavalry  were  massed  on  the  wings.  The  army  of  the  Britons, 
consisting  of  both  infantry  and  cavalry,  were  confident  of  victory, 
and  had  hampered  themselves  with  their  wives,  riding  in  waggons  to 
witness  their  triumph.  Boadicea,  a  woman  of  spirit  and  deter- 
mination, had  blazened  abroad  among  her  people  the  treatment  she 
had  received,  and  drove  about  in  her  chariot  along  with  her 
daughters  from  tribe  to  tribe,  calling  upon  her  countrymen  to 
throw  off  the  foreign  yoke.  But  in  spite  of  their  numbers  and 
their  ardour,  the  Britons  experienced  a  crushing  defeat.  At  first 
the  legion  kept  its  post  in  the  narrow  defile,  but  when  the  pila, 
which  were  hurled  with  unerring  aim  on  the  advancing  foe,  had 
been  exhausted,  they  rushed  forward  in  a  wedge-like  column  and 
broke  the  British  centre.  The  auxiliaries  and  the  cavalry  com- 
pleted the  victory,  and  the  flight  of  the  conquered  enemy  was 
impeded  by  the  waggons.  Their  loss  is  computed  at  nearly  80,000. 
Boadicea  poisoned  herself,  and  the  commander  of  legion  II., 
who  had  disobeyed  orders,  and  thereby  kept  his  troops  from  sharing 
the  glory  of  the  XIV th,  committed  suicide. 

The  number  of  Roman  citizens  and  allies,  who  had  perished  at 
the  hands  of  the  rebels,  is  stated  to  have  been  about  70,000,  and  it. 
was  necessary  to  begin  the  work  of  civilisation  in  the  eastern 
districts  all  over  again.  Considerable  reinforcements  arrived  from 
Gaul ;  the  IXth  legion  was  recruited  again ;  and  the  whole  army 
was  brought  together  to  stamp  out  the  remaining  sparks  of  re- 
bellion. Suetonius  took  a  terrible  vengeance.  He  wasted  the  land 
of  the  enemy  with  fire  and  sword,  and  the  famine  which  ensued 
made  great  havoc  among  the  Iceni.  Perhaps  at  this  time  the 
stronghold  of  Venta  Icenorum  f  was  established  to  control  the 
districts  north  of  Camalodunum. 

§  12.  Suetonius  was  a  severe  ruler  ;  his  counsels  were  always  of 
sternness,  never  of  lenity.  Charges  of  oppression  were  brought 
against  him  by  a  procurator,  and  Polycletus,  an  imperial  freedman, 


*  Some  fancy  that  the  scene  of  the 
defeat  was  Wormingford  (near  Colchester), 
where  a  mound  has  been  discovered 


rtth  a  large  number  of  funeral  urns. 
f  Norwich  or  Caistor. 


270 


THE   CONQUEST   OF   BRITAIN.          CHAP.  xvi. 


was  sent  to  the  island  to  investigate  the  matter.  His  decision  was 
practically  adverse  to  Suetonius,  who  was  recalled  (61  A.D.)  aiid 
replaced  ill  the  command  by  Petroniuo  Turpilianus,  a  man  of  more 
conciliatory  temper.  Under  his  auspices  southern  Britain  seems  to 
have  become  contented  with  Roman  rule.  The  towns  which  had 
been  sacked  by  the  Iceni,  were  rebuilt,  and  soon  resumed  their 
former  prosperity — Camalo  lunum,  as  the  centre  of  the  Roman  ad- 
ministration, and  Londinium,  as  the  centre  of  British  commerce. 
By  this  time  all  the  most  important  stations  in  the  province  were 
connected  by  Roman  roads.  The  two  most  important  roads, 
Watling  Street,  leading  to  the  west,  and  Ermine  Street  to  the 
north  (through  Camalodunum)  met  at  Londinium.  The  chief  sea- 
ports were  Rutupiae  (Richborough)  and  Portus  Lemanis,  which 
preserves  its  old  name  as  Lymne.  It  is  highly  probable  that  these 
places — as  well  as  inland  centres  such  as  Calleva  (Silchester,  near 
Reading),  and  Corinium,  (Cirencester) — were  already  begiuning 
to  become  centres  of  Roman  civilisation. 


NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


A.— THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  PLAUTICJS. 

Our  only  account  of  the  invasion  of 
Britain  by  Plautius  is  that  of  Dion  Cassius, 
and  he  gives  so  few  geographical  indi- 
cations, and  those  few  so  vague,  that  it  is 
quite  hopeless  to  reconstruct  the  cam- 
paign with  anything  like  certainty.  The 
views  of  scholars  who  have  investigated 
the  question  diverge  widely.  The  account 
given  in  the  foregoing  chapter  is  in  ac- 
cordance with  that  of  Mommsen  (Rom. 
Gesch.,  v.  cap.  5)  and  Mr.  Furneaux 
(Annals  of  Tacitus,  vol.  ii.  p.  126,  sqq.~). 
Hubner's  view  is  very  different  (Romische 
Herrschaft  in  Westeuropa,  p.  10,  aqq."), 
and  deserves  to  be  recorded. 

Hubner  holds  that  the  Roman  forces 
landed  at  one  or  more  points  between 
Dover  and  Southampton;  that  the  first 
camp  was  near  Chicijester,  the  old  capital 
of  the  P.egni,  where  they  received  the 
support  of  Cogidubnus ;  that  Clausentum 
(near  Southampton)  may  have  been 
founded  in  honour  of  the  victorious  enter- 
prise of  Claudius  near  the  spot  where  the 
fleet  landed;  that  the  occupation  of  the 
Isle  of  Wight  was  one  of  the  earliest 
events  of  the  conquest.  From  Chicheeter, 


according  to  this  view,  the  army  advanced 
in  a  north-westerly  direction   to  Venta 
(the  chief  city  of  the  Belgae),  whose  name 
is  hidden  in  Win-chester;  and  thence  to 
j  Calleva  (Silchester),   which,    situated  at 
i  an  equal  distance  from  the  eastern  and 
j  western  seas,   was  well  suited  to  be  a 
centre  for  simultaneous  operations  in  east 
|  and  west.     The   Boduni,   mentioned  by 
I  Dion,  are  the  same  as  the  Dobuni  who 
dwelled  on  the  Severn  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Gloucester,  and'Jlevum  (Glouces- 
ter) was  occupied  by  a  Roman  garrison. 
Having  established  a  footing  in  the  west, 
the  main  part  of  the  army  proceeded  east- 
ward against  the  Trinovantes,  and    the 
unnamed  river  of  Dion  is  probably  the 
Avon. 

Against  Hubner's  view  and  all  others 
wliich,  like  his,  assume  operations  in  the 
west  immediately  after  the  landing,  it 
must  be  urged  that  nothing  in  Dion  really 
justifies  such  an  assumption,  which  is, 
antecedently,  improbable.  The  first  shock 
of  the  invasion  was  clearly  aim  d  at  the 
1  Trinovantes,  and  it  is  difficult  to  see  why 
Plautius  should  have  advanced  against 
Canial  dunum  by  way  of  Calleva  anu 
I  Qlevum.  The  only  plausible  argument 


CHAP.  xvi. 


NOTES   AND   ILLUSTRATIONS. 


2571 


tor  Htibner'8  reconstruction  is  Dion's  men- 
tion of  he  tiudani,  from  which,  by  trans- 
posing two  letters,  we  may  get  Dobuni, 
who  (we  know  Irorn  the  geographer 
Ptolemy)  lived  in  the  neighbouruood  of 
Gloucester  and  Cirencester.  BU  there  is 
no  reason  whatever  why  tuere  might  not 
have  been  Boduni,  totally  distinct  from 
the  Dobuni.  and  dwelling  in  a  different 
partot  Britain.  N..  guesswork  is  so  un- 
certain as  guesswork  about  proper  names. 

The  view  of  Dr.  >«uest  assumes  a  similar 
det  >ur  to  the  west.  It  is  briefly  and 
clearly  summed  up  by  Mr.  Furueaux 
(p.  134).  Dr.  Guesr,  "thinks  that  tbe 
landing  was  effected  probably  at  Rich- 
lx>rousjh,  Dover,  and  Hythe,  bu  that  the 
Britons  abandoned  K  -m  without  astruggle; 
that  their  tirst  stand  (in  which  Caractacus 
w.s  defeated)  was  near  Silchester,  the 
second  (in  which  Tog.idumnus  was  de- 
feat-d)  near  Cirencester;  that  the  un- 
named riv.  r  to  which  the  Uritons  then 
fell  back,  and  where  the  chief  battle  took 
place,  wa-i  really  the  Tnames,  which  was 
crossed  at  Wallingford ;  (hat  the  so  i  ailed 
Thames  which  the  Britons  aft  rwards 
crossed,  ..nd  at  which  the  lioman  advance 
was  checked,  was  really  the  tidal  estuary 
of  the  Lea  noar  Stratford;  and  that  the 
place  wh  re  Plautius  then  waiied  was 
Lo  .don,  where  his  camp  formed  the  first 
p  ruument  castellum,  and  where  he  does 
not  think  'hat  there  is  evidence  of  any 
previous  Britisn  settlement.  He  supports 
this  view  from  a  passage  in  win  h  Alfred 
(who  is  supposed  to  have  followed  some 
confused  Welsh  Chronicle)  Ascribes  to 
Caesar  a  march  somewhat  resembling  the 
above  (but  stated  as  by  way  of  Walling- 
ford to  Cirencester);  but  the  difficulties 
involved  seem  extremely  great."  If  we 
once  begin  to  doubt  one  of  tne  tew  data 
which  seem  fairly  certain,  namely,  the 
ident  ty  of  I  >ion's  Thamesis  with  the 
Thames,  t'ie  reconstruction  of  the  cam- 
paign is  hopeless. 

An.ther  verv  different  view  was  put 
forward  by  Mr.  G.  B.  Airy  (Athenaeum, 
June  28,  1860),  and  is  thus  summed  up 
by  Mr.  Furneaux.  He  held  "that  the 
westerly  course  ment  oned  by  Dio  was 
really  that  from  the  North  Foreland  to 
the  coast  of  Essex,  where  the  landing  took 
pla'-e  (probably  at  or  near  Southend); 
that  the  Britons  retr  ated  south-west ; 
that  the  unnam  d  river,  the  j-cene  of  the 
chief  conflict,  was  the  tidal  portion  of  the 
Lea;  that  the  Britons,  retreating  thence, 


crossed  to  the  south  of  the  Thames,  fol- 
lowed i>y  the  Romans,  who  took  up  a 
position  (probably  at  i\eston),  where  they 
re-crossed  the  Thames  with  Claudius  and 
struck  at  CamaUxlunum.  This  view  ap- 
pears to  involve  the  hardly  possible  sup- 
position, that  the  Biifcns,  in.- lead  of 
1  ailing  back  upon  their  str.  nghold  at 
Camaiodunum,  delibeiately  marche<i  away 
irom  it  and  leit  it  open  to  atiack,  and 
that  the  homans,  instead  of  availing 
themselves  of  that  opi  ortunity,  marched 
after  them,  and  even  crosseu  the  Thames, 
knowing  that  they  wouid  have  to  e-cross 
it  for  the  main  oi  ject  ol  the  campaign." 

More  recently  Mr.  F.  C.  J.  Spurrell 
read  a  paper  at  the  Arcba  ological  Insti- 
tute  (1888),  which  puts  forward  a  new 
view,  partly  in  agreement  with  I  r.  Guest, 
partly  with  Mr.  Airy.  '-He  places  the 
landing  on  the  Hampshire  coast,  and 
makes  the  Romans  march  to  Gloucester- 
shire and  thence  eastward  till  they  reach 
the  Lea  (the  unnamed  river  of  Lio); 
whence  he  also  makes  them  follow  the 
Britons  southward  across  the  Thames 
(probably  near  Tilbury,  supposed  to  be 
then  above-  the  tidal  limit),  and  wait 
there  for  Claudius." 

One  ot  the  most  useful  'ssays  written 
on  this  difficult  subject  is  that  ol  Mr. 
Furneaux,  to  which  this  note  is  largely 
indebted. 

B.— THE  LIMITS  OF  THE  PROVINCE 
UNDER  OSTORIUS  SCAPULA. 

The  chronology  of  the  northward  ex- 
tension of  the  province  is  very  unct  rtain. 
The  data  are  lew ;  and,  in  an  iniportant 
sentence  ot  Tacitus,  which  might  throw 
some  light  upon  the  question,  the  r<  aning 
is  doubtful.  In  ti  e  foregoing  chapter  tbe 
view  ol  Htbner,  that  Camalodunum  and 
tilevum  markeil  the  1  mits  of  the  province 
under  Plautius  and  (  storius,  has  be.  n 
adopted.  It  bus  also  been  assumed  that 
the  permanent  establishment  at  Deva  was 
due  to  Suetonius,  and  that  I  indum  (Lin- 
coln) was  not  occupied  until  a  later  period 
(seeb  low,  Chap,  xxii  $  1).  Otbeis  bow- 
•"•er,  hold  that  Lindum  was  a  Roman  post 
under  Suetonius,  or  even  under  Ostorius, 
and  that  in  iact  Cereal  is  and  legion  IX. 
were  Rationed  there  when  the  revolt 
of  61  A.D.  broke  out.  Th  s  seems  quite 
possible. 

Tacitus  (Annals,  xii.  31)  describing  the 
acts  of  Ostorius  says :  Ctinctaque  castris 
Antonam  et  Sabrinam  fluvios  cohitere 


272 


NOTES   AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


CHAP,  xvi 


parat.    As  they  stand,  the  words  cannot  ; 
be  construed,  but  they  are  supposed  to  j 
mean  that  tbe  governor  drew  a  line  of  I 
forts   across   the   country   between    two  j 
rivers,  of  which   one  was   the   Severn. 
Many    corrections    have    been    proposed, 
among  others  inter  Avonam  (for  Anto- 
nam);  a  very  improbable  change.   Momm- 
sen  thinks  that  castris  means  a  military 
station    at  Viroconium    (Wroxeter),  and 
that  the  river  whose  name  is  corrupted, 
was  the  Tern.     (So  Mr.  Haverfield,  who 
suggests  castris  ad  Tri&antonam.)    But 
the  context  shows  that  the  measure  of 


Ostorius  in  some  way  affected  the  Iceni, 
so  that  Viroconium  seems  unlikely.  The 
conjecture  of  Heraeus  is  more  plausible, 
both  pala'ographically  and  historically. 
He  proposes  cis  Trisantonam  (instead  of 
castris  Antonarn),  "south  ot  the  rivers 
Trent  and  Severn."  Trisantona  might 
well  have  been  the  old  name  ot  the  Trent. 
If  the  Trent  is  mentioned  as  a  lim  t,  the 
occupation  of  Lindum  at  this  time  becomes 
highly  probable. 

It  is  to  be  observed  that  if  castris  is 
right,  it  must  mean  "a  camp,"  not  "a 
line  of  forts,"  which  would  be  castellis. 


Apotheosis  of  Germanicus. 


Nero. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

THE    PBINCIPATE   OF    NERO   (54-68    A.D.). 

1.  Early  life  and  education  of  Nero.  Seneca.  §  2.  Position  of 
Britannicus.  Speech  of  Nero  in  the  senate.  §  3.  Struggle  between 
Agrippina,  and  Seneca  and  Burrus.  Disgrace*  of  Pallas.  Death  of 
Britannicus.  §  4.  Nero's  licentiousness.  Poppaea  Sahina.  §  5.  Destruc- 
tion of  Agrippina.  §  6.  Sympathy  with  Nero.  §  7.  Nero's  appearance 
in  public  as  a  lyre-player  and  charioteer.  §  8.  Death  of  Burrus.  Decline 
of  Seneca's  influence.  Schemes  of  Poppaea.  §  9.  Tigellinus.  Execu- 
tion of  Rubellius  Plautus  and  Cornelius  Sulla.  §  10.  Divorce  and 
death  of  Octavia.  Nero  marries  Poppaea.  Her  death.  §  11.  The 
feast  of  Tigellinus.  §  12.  Financial  measures.  Project  of  "free 
trade."  Taxation.  Delations  and  confiscations.  Debasement  of 
coinage.  §  13.  Great  fire  in  Rome,  64  A.D.  Rebuilding  of  the  city. 
§  14.  Cause  of  the  fire ;  charges  against  Nero.  Accusation  and 
execution  of  Christians.  §  15.  Conspiracy  of  Piso.  §  16.  Deaths  oi 
12* 


274  THE  PRINCIPATE   OF  NERO.         CHAP.  xvn. 

Seneca  and  Lucan.  §  17  Death  of  Petronius  Arbiter.  §  18.  Death  of 
Thrasea  Paetns.  §  19.  Nero's  visit  to  Greece.  Freedom  granted  to 
Achria  (06-68  A.D.).  §20.  Revolt  of  Vindex.  § -Jl.  It  is  suppressed 
by  Veigiuius.  §  22.  Advance  of  Galba  and  death  of  Nero  (68  A.D.). 
§  23.  Feelings  on  his  death.  §  24.  His  appearance  and  character. 
§  25  Encroachments  on  the  power  of  th  senate.  §  2(3.  Provincial 
administration.  Prosecutions  of  governors.  New  provinces.  Coloni.-.a- 
tion  in  Mo;>ia.  §  '27.  Project  of  a  water-route  through  Gaul.  §  28. 
Hostilities  of  the  Frisians. 


SFCT.  I. — THE  ASCENDENCY  OF  SENECA  AND  BCTRRUS. 

§  1.  THE  new  Princeps*  belonged  to  the  house  of  ihe  Brazen -beards, 
one  of  the  most  illustiious  families  of  the  Dou.itian  <jens.  His 
father,  Gnaeu*  Domitius  Al  enobarbus,  a  man  infmious  for  his 
vices  and  crimes,  i*  reported  to  have  said  on  his  child's  birth,  that 
the  offspring  of  such  a  father  as  himsel',  and  such  a  mother  as 
A'jrippina,  m.ust  turn  out  ill-omened  and  disastrous  to  the  state. 
The  child  lost  his  f.ither  at  the  age  of  three,  and  was  despoiled  of 
his  inheritance  by  the  Emperor  Gaius.  Hi-,  mother  was  in  banish- 
ment, ami  his  training  d-  v«»l  ed  'or  a  time  upon  his  aunt  Domitia 
Lepida.  The  accession  of  Claudius  restored  to  him  both  his  mother 
and  his  possessions,  and  under  the  eye  of  Agrippina  he  WHS  brought 
up  with  a  view  to  future  greatness,  It  has  been  already  men- 
tioned that  she  recalled  the  philosopher  Seneca  from  exile,  and 
entrusted  to  him  the  education  of  her  son.  This  remarkable  man, 
who  played  an  imporant  i  art  in  the  administraiion  of  the  Homan 
world  during  the  early  half  of  Nero's  reign,  professed  to  be  a  Stoic, 
superior  to  the  ordinary  desires  and  amb  tions  of  mankind.  But 
he  amassed  an  immense  fortune,  and  did  not  disdain  the  arts  of 
a  courtier.  He  was  not  a  politician  who  amuses  himself  with 
philosophy,  nor  yet  a  pure  philosopher  who  steps  out  of  his 
sphere  to  give  advice  in  politics.  On  the  contrary,  his  theory  was 
that  philosophy  should  be  applied  to  government,  and  that  thought 
should  be  combimd  with  notion.  He  mny  not  h.nve  adhend 
over  strictlv  to  all  his  precepts  ol  moralit\,  but  tj  ere  can  be  nodruht 
that  whatever  w  re  hi*  faults,  he  rose  "  far  above  the  culinary 
pi  da^ogues  of  the  day,  the  cri"gin>.r  slave  or  the  flattering  freedman 
to  wi  om  tb.3  young  patricians  were,  for  the  most  part,  consigned. 
Doubtless  it  was  Seneca's  principle  of  education  to  allure,  possibly 
to  coax,  rather  than  drive  his  pupil  into  virtue.  He  yielded  on  many 
points  in  order  to  borro  v  influence  on  others.  He  deigned  to  pur- 
chase the  youth's  attention  to  severe  studies  by  indulging  his  incltna- 

*  His  name  in  official  style  was  :  Nero  I  n.,  1'i.  Ceesaris  Autmsti  pron.,divi  Augusti 
Claudius  divi  Claud,  f.,  Germanici  Csesaris  ]  abn.  Caesar  Augustus  Germanicus. 


54  AJX  HIS  EDUCATION.      SENECA.  276 

tion  to  some  less  worthy  amusements."  *  The  young  prince  was 
sunounded  by  the  temptations  whfch  beset  the  pa'rician  youth  of 
Rome,  and  accustomed  to  the  indulgences  which  tended  to  relax 
the  vigour  of  mind  and  body.  His  favourite  studies  were  artistic, 
especially  music  and  singing  ;  in  oiatory  he  was  not  thought  to  be 
proficient.  It  was  a  matter  of  remark  that  he  required  the  help  oi 
Seneca  to  compose  the  funeral  oration  of  his  uncle. 

§  2.  The  succession  of  Nero  to  the  Principate  was  readily 
acquiesced  in  by  the  people,  the  soldiers,  and  the  senate.  Yet 
there  was  a  feeling  that  Britannicus,  as  the  real  son  of  Claudius, 
had  a  better  claim  than  the  adopted  Donrtius.  It  is  significant 
that  the  will  of  Claudius  was  not  read,  but  was  silently  passed 
over.  No  one,  however,  felt  called  upon  to  undertake  the  cause  oi 
Britannicns.  This  may  have  been  partly  due  to  the  fact  that  the 
infidelity  of  his  mother  had  cast  a  slur  on  his  birth.  The  s  nators 
may  have  even  preferred  an  Emperor  whose  claim  was  doubtful,  in 
the  hope  that  they  might  exert  more  influence  in  the  administra- 
tion, if  he  felt  dependent  on  their  goodwill.  It  must  be  re- 
membered that,  from  a  strictly  constitutional  point  of  view, 
Britannicus  had  no  more  claim  to  the  Princ'pate  than  Nero,  and 
Nero,  through  his  mother,  was  descended  in  direct  line  from 
Augustus.  The  first  speech  of  the  new  Emperor  in  the  senate, 
dictated  doubtless  by  Seneca,  produced  a  favourable  impression. 
He  promised  not  to  interfere  with  the  senate  in  the  exercise  of  any 
of  its  functions,  but  to  confine  his  activity  to  the  armies.  The  senators 
lost  no  time  in  repealing  a  law  of  Claudius,  by  which  lawyers  were 
allowed  to  accept  rewards  for  pleading  causes,  and  in  exempting 
quaestors  from  the  burden  of  exhibiting  gladiatorial  shows,  which 
the  same  Emperor  had  laid  upon  them. 

§  3.  The  early  years  of  Nero's  rule  were  marked  by  a  struggle  for 
power  between  his  mother  and  his  two  chief  advisers,  Seneca  and 
Burrus.  Agrippina  had  staked  everything  for  power,  and  she  did 
not  intend  to  surrender  the  reins  on  her  sou's  accession.  It  was 
not  enough  for  her  that  Nero  should  rule  ;  she  d<  sired  to  rule 
herself.  And  Nero  was  devoted  to  her.  His  first  watchword  was 
"the  best  of  mothers,"  and  during  the  first  months  she  behaved  as 
the  regent  of  the  Empire.  On  coins  her  head  appeared  along  with 
that  of  the  P  inceps,  and  she  took  upon  herself  to  receive  the 
ambassadors  of  foreign  states.  She  hastened  to  remove  from  her 
path  two  enemies,  t1  e  freedman  Narcissus,  and  M.  Silanus,  pro- 
consul of  Asia.  She  feared  the  vengeance  of  the  latter  for  the 
death  of  his  brother  Lucius,  whom  she  had  destroyed  as  a  possible 
rival  of  her  son.  Nero,  who  cared  only  to  enjoy  the  pleasures  of 
*  Merivale.  vi.  270. 


276  THE   PRIXCIPATE   OF  NERO.         CHAP.  xvn. 

his  position,  and  not  to  fulfil  its  duties,  had  himself  little  objection 
to  his  mother's  political  activity ;  but  Burrus  and  Seneca  were 
resolved  not  to  concede  the  assumption  of  such  power  to  a  woman, 
especially  as  it  seemed  likely  to  be  cruelly  and  unscrupulously 
exercised.  In  order  to*  counteract  her  influence,  they  encouraged  Nero 
in  an  intrigue  with  a  Greek  freedwoman  named  Acte.  Agrippina 
was  incensed,  and  her  violent  language  drove  the  Emperor  to  attach 
himself  more  closely  to  the  indulgent  Seneca.  She  then  changed 
her  policy,  and  attempted  to  bid  against  the  philosopher  by  still 
greater  indulgence  ;  but  the  eyes  of  her  son  had  been  opened  to  her 
overbearing  ambition.  The  first  decisive  triumph  of  the  rivals  of 
Agrippina  was  the  disgrace  of  the  freedman  Pallas,  with  whom  she 
had  closely  leagued  herself,  and  on  whose  political  experience  she 
leaned.  Nero,  who  had  never  liked  him,  and  would  not  submit 
to  his  counsels,  deprived  him  of  his  office,  and  dismissed  him  from 
the  court  (before  February  13,  A.D.  55). 

This  was  felt  as  a  serious  blow  by  Agrippina,  and  she  made  a 
desperate  move  to  recover  her  power  by  espousing  the  cause  of  her 
stepson  Britannicus.  She  declared  that  he  was  the  true  heir  of 
Claudius;  she  threatened  to  rush  with  him  to  the  camp,  and 
ask  the  soldiers  to  judge  between  the  daughter  of  Germanicus,  and 
Burrus  and  Sen*  ca.  Whatever  were  her  own  crimes,  she  said,  she 
had  at  lea-t  preserved  the  life  of  Britannicus.  This  action  on  her 
part  proved  fatal  to  the  unlucky  son  of  Claudius.  Nero  saw  that 
his  own  seat  was  not  secure  as  long  as  Britannicus  lived,  and  he 
determined  to  remove  him.  The  services  of  Locusta,  which 
Agrippina  had  employed  to  hasten  the  death  of  Claudius,  were 
now  employed  by  her  son  to  kill  Britannicus.  A  warm  wine-cup 
was  presented  to  the  boy  at  table,  and  when  he  found  it  too  hot, 
cold  water  was  added,  into  which  a  drop  of  deadly  poison  had  been 
poured.  He  died  instantaneously,  to  the  alarm  of  all  those  who 
were  present,  and  the  unaffected  consternation  of  Agrippina.  The 
body  was  burnt  the  same  night  in  the  Campus,  in  the  midst  of  a 
y;reat  storm,  which  was  interpreted  as  a  sign  of  divine  wrath.  It  is 
impossible  to  know  whether  Seneca  was  privy  to  this  deed,  or 
whether  it  was  solely  due  to  the  calculation  of  Nero.  It  is  clear 
that  the  death  of  Britannicus  was  a  decisive  ch<  ck  to  the  plans  of 
Agrippina,  and  the  question  is  whether  Seneca  would  have  been 
ready  to  go  to  the  length  of  poisoning  in  order  to  foil  her  and 
preserve  his  own  position.  But  there  is  no  evidence  to  prove  him 
guilty,  and  therefore  we  must  suppose  him  innocent.  The  death 
of  Britannicus  was  represented  as  natural,  and  Nero  professed  to 
lament  the  loss  of  a  dear  brother.  He  had  no  curious  inquiries  to 
tear  from  the  senate ;  for  the  senate  was  content  with  the  Emperor's 


55  A.D.  DEATH  OF  BKITANNICUS.  277 

policy,  guided  as  it  was  by  Seneca,  and  as  long  as  the  senate  was 
content,  fratricide  and  other  crimes  might  be  committed  in  the 
palace  without  interference. 

Popularity  with  the  senate  was  indeed  the  keynote  of  Seneca's 
policy.  The  Emperor  refused  statues  of  gold  and  silver;  he 
declined  the  honour  of  letting  the  year  begin  with  his  birth-month, 
December;  he  dismissed  the  charge  of  a  delator  against  a  knight 
and  a  senator.  Such  acts  were  counted  to  him  for  righteousness. 

Agrippina  had  lost  her  influence  with  Nero,  and  when,  after  the 
death  of  Britannicus,  she  posed  as  the  protectress  of  Octavia,  her 
son's  wife,  whom  he  treated  with  contemptuous  neglect,  and 
attempted  to  form  a  party  of  her  own,  he  became  alarmed.  He 
caused  the  guard  which  had  hitherto  attended  her  to  be  removed, 
and  forced  her  to  leave  the  palace,  and  take  up  her  residence  in  the 
house  which  formerly  belonged  to  her  grandmother  Antonia.  At 
these  signs  of  disfavour  her  friends  fell  away,  and  Junia  Silana,* 
who  had  a  private  grudge  against  her,  attempted  to  work  her  ruin 
by  a  false  charge  of  conspiracy.  Two  suborned  informers  stated 
that  she  had  plotted  to  overthrow  her  son,  and  replace  him  by 
Rubellius  Plautus,f  who  was  as  nearly  related  to  Augustus  as 
Nero  himself.  But  on  examination  the  charges  fell  through,  and 
Silana  was  banished. 

§  4.  During  the  next  three  years  Agrippina  vanishes  from  the 
pages  of  history.  Though  her  influence  was  gone,  there  seems  to 
have  been  no  open  rupture.  While  Seneca  and  Burrus  ad- 
ministered the  affairs  of  the  Empire,  and  an  unwonted  activity  was 
permitted  to  the  senate,  the  Emperor  occupied  his  time  in  the 
licentious  amusements  of  youth.  Adopting  a  favourite  pastime  of 
profligate  young  nobles,  he  used  to  wander  through  the  streets  at 
night,  disguised  in  the  garb  of  a  slave  to  conceal  his  person,  and 
visit  taverns  and  low  haunts.  He  and  his  comrades  used  to  seize 
goods  exposed  for  sale,  and  assail  those  whom  they  encountered  in 
their  progress.  The  Emperor  himself  bore  on  his  face  the  marks 
of  wounds  received  in  these  brawls.  When  it  became  known  that 
Nero  was  in  the  habit  of  masquerading  thus,  and  many  men  and 
women  of  distinction  had  been  insulted  in  his  nocturnal  escapades, 
others  assumed  his  name  and  followed  his  example,  so  that  the  city 
was  infested  by  gangs  like  the  Mohawks,  who  in  the  last  century 
used  to  make  London  dangerous  at  night.  On  one  occasion  a  man 
of  senatorian  rank,  named  Julius  Montanus,  happened  to  meet  Nero 
in  the  darkness.  He  first  repelled  his  assailant  vigorously,  but 
afterwards  recognised  him,  and  sent  in  a  petition  for  pardon.  Nero, 

*  Widow  of  C.  Silius,  the  paramour  of  |  f  His  mother  was  Julia,  daughter  of 
Messalina.  |  Drusus  (son  of  Tiberius)  and  Livilla. 


278  THE  PRINCIPATE  OF  NEBO.         CHAP,  xvn 

angry  at  being  recognised, asked  "  Has  henot,  then,  already  dispatched 
himself,  seeing  that  he  strut  k  Nero? ''and  Montanus  was  oblLed 
to  destroy  himself.  But  after  tliis  occurrence  the  Emperor  was 
more  cautious,  and  on  such  expeditions  was  always  attended  by 
a  guard  of  soldiers  and  gladiators,  to  interfere  if  necessary. 

The  two  most  intimite  companions  of  Nero  were  two  profligate 
men  of  fashion,  Salvius  Otho  and  Claudius  Senecio.  In  58  A.D.,  his 
intimacy  with  Otho  led  to  an  entanglement  with  Otho's  wife 
Poppasa  Sahina.  She  had  been  divorced  from  a  former  husband  to 
marry  Otho,  and  she  regarded  her  second  husband  as  merely  a 
stepping-stone  to  a  still  higher  alliance.  She  had  determined  to 
win  the  hand  of  Nero  hinoelf.  The  historian  Tacitus  has  described 
with  great  art  her  coquetry,  her  fascinations,  her  audacity,  and 
her  wickedness.  "She  had  all  things  except  a  high  rnind."*  In 
her,  Agrippina  had  indeed  found  a  mated.  Tl  e  Emperor  suc- 
cumbed to  her  charms,  and  got  rid  of  Otho  by  appointing  him 
governor  of  Lusitania.  In  order  to  marry  Nero  it  was  necessary 
for  Poppasa  to  procure  the  divorce  of  Octavia,  but  she  saw 
clearly  that  the  chief  obstacle  to  her  plans  was  Agrippina,  who 
had  always  striven  to  maintain  the  nominal  union  of  her  son  and 
her  stepdaughter.  So  Poppaei  set  herself  to  bring  about  a  rupture 
between  the  Emperor  and  his  mother.  She  had  friends  and 
supporters  in  Seneca  and  Bumis,  the  opponents  of  Agrippina,  and 
she  had  made  up  her  mind  to  step  over  the  corpses  of  the  two 
Empresses  into  the  palace  of  the  Cassars. 

§  5.  The  daughter  of  Germanicus  still  possessed  considerable 
influence  with  ihe  praetorians,  and  it  would  have  been  dangerous 
to  resort  to  public  measures  against  her.  But  Nero,  led  on  by  the 
persuasions  of  his  mistress  Poppaea,  did  not  shrink  from  contriving 
a  scheme  for  her  assassination.  His  old  tutor  Anicetus,  whom  he 
had  raised  to  be  captain  of  the  fleet  of  Misennm,  undertook  to 
construct  a  vessel  which  could  be  sunk,  without  exciting  suspicion, 
aud  if  it  could  be  managed  that  Agrippina  should  emburk  in  it, 
her  destruction  would  be  imputed  by  the  worll  to  the  winds 
and  waves.  At  the  Quinquatrus,  a  festival  of  Minerva  lasting 
five  days  in  the  month  of  March,  Nero  incited  his  mother 
to  his  villa  near  Baias.  She  landed  at  Bauli,  between  Baias  and 
Cape  Misenum,  and  completed  her  journey  in  a  litter,  but  after  the 
banquet,  when  night  had  f  lien,  she  was  induced  to  return  to 
Bauli  in  the  vessel  which  had  been  prepared  for  her  destruction. 
But  the  mechaniwm  did  not  do  its  work  with  the  expected  success, 
a,ud  Agrippina  succeeded  in  swimming  to  shore,  whence  she  pro- 
ceeded to  her  villa  on  the  Lucrine  lake.  One  of  her  maids. 

*  Too.,  Ann.,  xiii.  45 :  Ctmcta  alia  prater  honestum  animum. 


59  A.D.  DEATH   OF  AGKIPPINA.  279 

Acerronia,  who  in  order  to  save  her  own  life  called  out,  "  I  am 
the  Empress,"  was  struck  with  oats,  and  drowned.  Agrippina 
saw  through  the  treachery  which  she  had  so  narrowly  escaped, 
but  pretended  to  regard  it  as  an  accident,  and  sent  her  freedman 
Agerinus  to  bear  to  Nero  the  news  of  her  fortunate  escape.  Nero, 
who  had  been  waiting  in  agitation  to  learn  that  his  mother 
was  no  more,  was  terror-stricken  at  the  tidings  that  the 
plan  had  miscarried.  He  a|  p>-aled  for  help  in  his  difficulty 
to  Burrus  and  Seneca,  who,  however,  seem  to  have  had  no  pait 
in  the  plot.  But  Anicetus  undertook  to  finish  the  work.  It 
was  pretended  that  a  dagger  was  found  in  the  possession,  of 
Agerinus,  the  freedman  of  Agrippina,  and  that  she  had  conspired 
against  the  Emperor's  life.  Anicetus,  accompanied  by  a  captain 
and  a  military  tribune,  hastene  1  to  the  Lucrine  villa.  They  found 
her  lying  on  a  couch,  with  a  single  attendant,  all  the  others  having 
deserted  her  at  the  approach  of  the  assassins;  and  at  their  appearance 
the  last  slave  fled.  She  was  dispatched  with  many  wounds,  crying. 
"  Strike  the" womb  which  bore  Nero."  She  was  buried  by  slaves, 
and  Mnester  a  faithful  freedman,  slew  himself  on  her  pyre 
(59  A.D.). 

§  6.  If  the  matricide  felt  stings  of  remorse,  they  were  speedily 
alleviated  by  the  congratulations,  which  poured  in  on  him  from 
every  side,  on  having  escaped  the  plots  of  his  mother.  He  wrote  a 
letter  to  the  senate,  explaining  the  circumstances  of  her  death,  and 
there  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  this  false  account,  embellished  by 
the  art  of  Seneca,  and  confirmed  by  the  testimony  of  Burrus,  was  not 
generally  believed.  This  is  an  instance  of  the  way  in  which  the 
senate  served  the  Princeps  as  a  means  of  reaching  the  public  tar. 
The  true  story  was  probably  known  only  to  a  few  initiated  persons  ; 
and  there  was  nothing  improbable  in  a  woman  who  had  killed 
her  husband  planning  to  kill  her  son.  Otherwise  the  great 
sympathy  which  was  expressed  for  Nero  is  unintelligible.  The 
senate  decreed  that  thanksgivings  should  be  offered  for  the 
Emperor's  safety,  and  that  golden  statues  of  Minerva  and  the 
Emperor  should  be  erected  in  the  senate-house.  The  Quinqnatrus 
were  henceforward  to  be  celebrated  by  public  Barnes,  and 
Agrippina's  birthday  to  be  regarded  as  a  day  of  ill-omen.  All 
those  persons  who  had  been  sent,  into  exile  owing  to  her  influence 
were  permitted  to  return.  Nero's  entry  into  Rome  was  like  a 
triumph.  He  ascended  to  the  Capitol  and  ottered  thanks  to  the 
gods  for  his  preservation. 


'280  THE   FRINCIPATE  OF  NEKO.         CHAP,  xvn 


SECT.  II. — THE  ASCENDENCY  OF  POPP^JA  AND  TIGELLINUS. 

§  7.  Agrippina,  with  all  her  unscrupulous  ambition,  had  a  high 
conception  of  the  imperial  dignity,  of  which  Nero  was  totally 
devoid.  After  her  death,  there  was  no  restraint  to  hinder  him  from 
following  his  bent,  and  indulging  his  theatrical  and  artistic  tastes, 
in  a  manner  which  set  at  defiance  all  the  national  prejudices  of  the 
Romans.  His  gnat  desire  was  to  appear  in  public,  in  tragic 
costume,  and  delight  the  ears  of  his  subjects  by  singing  and  playing 
)n  the  lyre,  or  to  guide  a  chariot  with  his  own  hands  in  the 
circus.  When  Seneca  represented  that  such  acts  hardly  befitted 
the  dignity  of  the  Emperor,  Nero  answered  him  with  appeals  to  the 
superior  culture  of  the  Greeks,  and  the  example  of  his  uncle  Gaius. 
Seneca  and  Burrus,  seeing  that  there  was  no  help  for  it,  tried 
at  least  to  limit  the  performances  of  the  Emperor  to  a  select 
audience.  A  circus  was  erected  in  the  Vatican  va'ley,  and  there  a 
privileged  number  of  courtiers  were  permitted  to  admire  the  skill 
of  the  imperial  charioteer.  But  if  his  guides  thought  that  he  would 
be  satisfied  with  this  concession,  they  were  mistaken ;  it  only 
stimulated  him  to  more  public  exhibitions.  He  was  resolved  to 
appear  as  a  singer  and  an  actor.  He  seized  the  occasion  on  which 
his  beard  was  first  clipped  to  institute  a  feast  called  Juvenalia, 
to  be  celebrated  within  the  palace.  Numerous  invitations  were 
issued,  and  noble  young  Romans  were  induced  to  contend  as  singers 
and  dancers  for  the  prizes  which  the  Emperor  offered.  Nero  him- 
self descendc-d  on  the  stage  with  his  lyre  in  his  hand,  and  a  band  of 
young  men,  called  Augustiani,  were  enrolled  to  applaud  the 
excellence  of  his  singing.  Burrus  is  described  as  looking  on, 
"  grieving,  but  applauding  "  (59  A.D.).  In  the  following  year,  the 
Emperor  instituted  another  feast,  called  by  his  own  name  Neronia, 
modelled  strictly  on  the  great  Greek  games,  and  to  be  held  every 
fi>e  years.  In  the  musical  contests  he  took  part  himself.  These 
exhibitions  were  far  more  harmless  than  the  horrible  gladia- 
torial shows,  but  they  outraged  national  prejudice  and  are  spoken 
of  with  disgust  by  Roman  historians.  Nero's  ideals  were  altogether 
Greek,  and  i.e  cared  little  for  the  spectacles  of  the  arena.  Brought 
up  by  Seneca  in  the  Stoic  philosophy,  he  had  imbibed  at  least  the 
spirit  of  cosmopolitanism  and  was  not  influenced  in  the  least  by  the 
political  traditions  of  Rome. 

§  8.  The  year  62  A.D.  was  a  turning-point  in  Nero's  reign. 
Hitherto  he  had  been  under  the  constraint  of  Burrus  and  Seneca, 
who,  while  they  indulged  judiciously  his  licentious  and  frivolous 
tastes,  had  prevented  him  from  exerting  his  imperial  power  to  the 


62  A.D  POPP.EA    AND   TIGELLINUS.  281 

detriment  of  the  state.  Thus  the  first  five  years  of  Nero's  reign 
became  proverbial  for  good  government — the  quinquennium  Neronis- 
The  death  of  Burrus  early  in  62  A.D.  was  the  beginning  of  a  change 
for  the  worse.  The  influence  of  Seneca,  deprived  of  his  friend's 
support,  immediately  began  to  wane.  It  seems  to  have  been 
almost  impossible  to  exercise  an  important  influence  in  political 
affairs,  except  in  concert  with  the  prsetorian  prefect,  and  Seneca 
could  not  act  with  the  new  prefects,  Sofonius  Tigellinus  and  Fsenius 
Rufus,  as  he  had  acted  with  Burrus.  But  his  estrangement  from  his 
former  pupil  was  chiefly  due  to  the  enmity  of  Poppasa,  who  was 
jealous  of  the  old  courtier's  influence  over  her  lover.  It  was  mainly 
due  to  Burrus  and  to  Seneca  that  she  had  not  yet  succeeded  in  dis- 
placing Octavia,  and  marrying  the  Emperor.  Burrus,  when  asked 
to  consent  to  the  divorce,  had  replied  with  characteristic  bluntness, 
"  If  you  put  away  the  daughter  of  Claudius,  at  least  restore  the 
Empire  which  was  her  dowry."  Poppsea  now  endeavoured  to  remove 
Seneca  from  her  path,  as  she  had  before  removed  Agrippina.  His 
riches  were  imputed  to  him  as  a  crime,  and  he  was  charged  with 
the  design  of  corrupting  the  populace  for  treasonable  purposes.  It 
was  said  too,  that  he  had  boasted  his  own  superiority  to  the 
Emperor  in  verse- writing  and  oratory.  Nero's  jealousy  and  fears 
were  easily  aroused,  and  his  altered  manner  showed  the  philosopher 
the  dangerous  position  in  which  he  stood.  He  took  the  precaution 
of  giving  up  all  the  outward  pomp  which  he  had  hitherto  maintained, 
and  meditated  a  complete  abandonment  of  public  life. 

§  9.  Of  the  two  prsetorian  prefects  who  had  succeeded  Burrus, 
Rufus  remained  insignificant,  but  Tigellinus,  a  man  of  obscure 
birth  and  no  principles,  soon  worked  himself  into  the  Emperor's 
confidence,  by  humouring  and  sharing  in  his  vices.  If  he  had  only 
been  the  companion  of  his  debaucheries,  it  might  have  mattered 
little  to  the  general  welfare,  but  he  was  also  the  instigator  of 
cruelty.  The  tyranny  which  marked  Nero's  later  years  dates  from 
the  appearance  of  Tigellinus  on  the  scene.  The  two  acts  which 
inaugurated  it,  were  the  executions  of  Rubellius  Plautus  and 
Cornelius  Sulla.  On  the  appearance  of  a  comet  in  the  year  60,  which 
was  supposed  to  betoken  the  fall  of  the  Princeps,  rumour  spoke  of 
Rubellius  Plautus  as  the  probable  successor.  Nero  advised  him, 
and  the  advice  was  equivalent  to  a  command,  to  retire  to  his  estates 
in  Asia,  and  there  he  had  lived  quietly  ever  since.  Tigellinus 
represented  to  the  Emperor  that  Plautus  was  still  dangerous,  in 
consequence  of  his  reputation,  his  wealth,  and  the  proximity  of 
Asia  to  the  Syrian  armies.  Accordingly  a  centurion  with  sixty 
soldiers  were  sent  from  Rome,  with  a  eunuch  of  the  palace,  to 
remove  the  obnoxious  noble,  and  Plautus,  although  he  was  warned 


282  THE  PK1NCIPATE  OF  NEKO.         CHAP.  xvu. 

by  his  friends  beforehand,  and  might  have  fled  to  Persia,  calmly 
awaited  his  fate.  Cornelius  Sulla,  the  husband  of  Antonia, 
daughter  of  Claudius  by  Psetina,  had  been  suspected  of  disloyalty 
four  years  before,  and  ordered  to  reside  in  Massilia.  He  was  not 
rich,  but  his  noble  de.-cent,  his  connection  with  the  Clandian  house, 
combined  with  the  suspicions  which  he  had  previously  aroused, 
decided  his  doom.  After  this  specimen  «-f  tyranny  no  senator  could 
consider  himself  safe,  and  the  tone  of  the  senate  now  changes  from 
independence  to  servility.  Tigellinus  and  Poppsea  were  triumphant, 
ami  Seneca  left,  the  fit-Id. 

§  10.  The  time  had  now  come  for  Poppsea  to  accomplish  her 
great  project,  and  induce  Nero  to  divorce  Octavia.  Tigellinus 
helped  her.  A  charge  was  goc  up  of  criminal  intercourse  wiih  an 
Alexandrine  flute-player,  and  the  praetorian  prelect  conducted 
the  investigation.  Under  torture  some  of  the  Empress's  slave-women, 
acknowledged  the  guilt  of  fieir  mistress,  but  most  of  them  denied 
it.  On  su3h  evidence  there  was  no  pretext  for  put  iug  the  accused  to 
death,  as  Poppasa  wished,  and  Nero  content  d  himself  with  divorcing 
her  on  the  ground  of  barrenness.  Th^  palace  of  Burrus  and  the 
possessions  of  Plautus  were  assigned  for  her  maintenance,  and  she 
was  commanded  to  retire  to  Campania.  But  the  universal 
sympathy,  which  the  lot  of  thin  unfortunate  and  innocent  lady 
aroused  among  all  classes,  proved  her  destruction.  A  rumour  was 
suddenly  spread  that  the  Emperor  had  recalled  his  wife.  It  was 
quite  groundless,  for  Nero  had  already  married  Poppsea,  whose 
statues  were  erected  in  tlie  public  places  in  the  city.  But  the 
people  rushed  in  excitement  to  the  Capitol,  thanked  the  gods  that 
the  Emperor  had  recognised  the  just  claim  of  the  true  daughter  of 
the  Csesars,  and  thrust  down  the  images  of  Poppsea,  while  they  bore 
those  of  Octivia  in  triumph.  The  soldiers  of  Tiiiellinus  dispersed 
the  masses  when  thev  gathered  round  the  imperial  palace.  Poppsea 
saw  that  while  her  rival  lived,  her  position  was  insecure,  and 
she  easily  persuaded  her  husband  to  consent  to  the  execution  of 
Octavia.  Auicetus,  the  prefect  of  the  fleet  at  Misenum,  who  had 
proved  himself  so  useful  in  compassing  the  death  of  Agrippina,  again 
supplied  his  services  f»r  the  destruction  of  a  second  victim.  He 
laid  a  confession  before  the  Kmperor  that  he  had  committed  adultery 
with  Octavia,  and  was  sentenced  to  banishment  to  Sardinia,  w  ere 
he  lived  in  luxury  and  died  a  natural  death.  Octavia  was  banished 
to  the  island  of  Pandateria,  where  she  was  executed  (June  9th, 
6 1  A.D.).  Her  head  was  cut  off  and  carried  to  Pop  sea,  who  could  now 
bre  ithe  freely.  By  a  d(  cree  of  the  senate,  samfiVes  of  thanksgiving 
were  offered  to  the  gods;  and,  says  Tacitus,  ii  may  be  henceforward 
understood  without  special  mention,  that  "  whenever  the  Princeps 


62,  63  A.D.    DIVORCE  AND  DEATH  OF  OCTAVIA.         283 

ordered  banishments  or  executions,  thanksgivings  were  paid  to  the 
gods,  and  the  ceremonies  which  fo  merly  marked  prosperous  events, 
were  then  the  tokens  of  some  public  di-aster." 

In  the  following  year  (63  A.D.)  Poppsea  bore  a  daughter  to  Nero. 
The  senate  decreed  her  the  title  Augusta,  which  had  not  been 
granted  to  Octavia,-but,  fr«>m  this  time  forwa'd,this  tMe  no  longer 
possessed  the  same  political  importance  which  it  I  ad  for  Livia  and 
Agripp'na.  Nero  was  overjoyed  at  the  birth  of  the  child,  \\ho 
was  named  Claudia,  but  she  died  afUr  three  months,  and  then 
his  griet  was  as  extravaian^  as  his  joy.  Claudia  was  enrolled  in 
the  rank  of  the  divas,  like  Brasilia,  the  sister  ot  Gains.  Poppaea 
herseli  died  two  yea'-s  later  in  premature  child-birth,  owing,  it  is 
said,  to  an  accidental  kick  from  Nero.  She  also  was  consecrated, 
the  first  Empress  since  Livia  who  had  received  that  honour. 

§  11.  Under  the  new  order  of  things,  Poppsea  and  'ligellinus 
having  taken  the  place  of  Seneca  an«i  Bnrrus,  the  luxury  and 
cruelty  wh  ch  prevailed  in  the  reign  of  Gaius,  and  the  glutt"ny  of  the 
court  of  i  laudius,  were  renewed.  Ne/o's  debauchery  was  practised 
as  publicly  as  his  acting  and  chariot-driving.  Banquets  were  spread 
in  all  the  public  places  of  the  city,  and  the  Emperor  used  the  whole 
city  as  if  it  had  been  his  private  house.  The  luxury  of  these  revels, 
devised  by  the  genius  of  Tigellinus,  was  notorious,  and  the  citizens 
were  permitted  to  be  spectators  of  the  Emperor's  licentiousness, 
On  one  occasion  a  feast  was  laid  out  on  a  large  raft,  which  was 
towed  along  by  ships  in  the  Basin  of  Agrippa.*  The  vessels  were 
adorned  with  gold  and  ivory,  and  were  rowed  by  men  oi  abandoned 
character.  On  the  banks  of  the  basin,  stood  disreputable  houses, 
filled  with  women  of  noble  birth.  Nero  hira-elf  is  snld  to  have 
crowned  his  infamy  by  going  through  all  the  rites  of  the  marriage 
ceremony,  the  veil,  the  dowry,  the  torches,  the  auspices,  with  a 
man  named  Pythodorus.  Although  the  stories  told  by  the  ancient 
historians  of  the  debaucheries  of  Nero  and  his  court  may  be 
exaggerated,  yet  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  exhibitions  of  wanton- 
ness took  place  with  a  shameless  publicity,  which  seems  almost 
incredible  to  a  modern  reader. 

§  12.  The  extravagance  and  prodigality,  which  went  hand  in 
hand  with  the  vices  of  the  court,  empiied  the  imperial  coffers,  and 
brought  about  a  financial  crisis,  just  as  had  happened  in  the  similar 
case  of  Gaius.  The  earlier  years  of  Nero  had  been  signalised  by  a 
liberal  and  enlightened  financial  policy.  Claudius  had  left  him  a 
well-filled  treasury,  such  as  Tiberius  had  left  to  Gaius,  and  he  made  a 
serious  attempt  to  relieve  the  burdens  of  the  masses,  upon  whom 
the  indirect  taxes  fell  so  heavily.  In  the  year  58  a  remarkable 
*  Probably  5n  the  Campus  Martins. 


284  THE   PKINCIPATE  OF  NERO.         CHAP,  xvn 

proposal  was  made  by  the  Emperor  to  do  away  with  the  vectigcdia, 
and  as  we  should  say,  establish  "  free  trade."  There  is  no  reason  to 
suppose  that  this  measure  was  intended  to  be  confined,  as  some 
have  supposed,  to  Roman  citizens,  or  to  the  city  of  Rome.  Its 
object  was  both  to  relieve  the  people  and  to  set  aside  a  mode  of 
taxation  which  was  attended  with  much  injustice  and  fraud.  There 
can  be  no  doubt  that  it  was  proposed  to  make  up  the  loss  to  the 
treasury  by  increasing  the  direct  taxes,  which  fell  upon  the  pro- 
ducers and  capitalists,  who  would  have  profited  by  the  remission 
of  the  duties.  But  the  Emperor's  projt  ct  did  not  get  a  trial ;  his 
experienced  advisers  represented  to  him  that  it  would  mean  the 
ruin  of  the  state.  The  opposition  doubtless  came  from  those 
privileged  classes  which  had  invested  large  capital  in  the  farming 
of  taxes,  and  who  would  have  suffered  if  the  duty  on  inheritances 
had  been  raised.  But  although  this  bold  design  fell  through,  it 
led  to  some  important  changes  which  alleviated  the  hardships  of 
the  taxation  in  its  various  forms.  One  measure  commanded  the 
publication  of  the  exact  amounts  of  all  dues  to  the  state,  so 
as  to  prevent  the  tax-collectors  from  exacting  too  much  ;  charges 
against  them  for  extortion  were  to  have  precedence  in  the 
courts ;  and  claims  for  arrears  were  not  to  be  made  after  a  year. 
The  duties  on  corn  imported  to  Italy  from  the  provinces  were 
lightened. 

The  expenses  which  fell  on  the  fiscus  were  heavy.  Every  year 
Nero  presented  60,000,000  sesterces  (£480,000)  "  to  the  state."  This 
sum  was  chiefly  devoted  to  defray  the  cost  of  supplying  the  city  with 
corn,  but  it  also  included  an  advance  to  the  aerarium,  which  was 
never  able  to  meet  its  claims  without  aid  from  the  fisc.  The  wars 
in  Armenia  and  Britain  were  also  costly,  over  and  above  the  ordinary 
expenses  of  maintaining  the  administration  and  the  armies  through- 
out the  Empire.  The  consequence  was  that,  when  the  outlay  of 
the  court  became  extravagant  under  the  guidance  of  Tigelliuus  and 
Nero's  other  licentious  friends,  the  funds  ran  short,  and  the  Emperor 
was  driven  to  resort  to  the  same  measures  to  replenish  his  treasury 
as  had  been  adopted  by  his  uncle  Gaius.  The  methods  of  delation 
and  confiscation  were  again  introduced.  The  rich  were  accused  OD 
false  or  trifling  charges,  and  their  possessions  appropriated  by  the  fisc. 
Among  the  first  victims  who  were  saciificed  were  two  rich  freedmen  : 
Nero's  secretary  Doryphorns,  who  had  presumed  to  oppose  his 
master's  marriage  with  Poppsea,  and  the  old  Pallas,  who  had  amassed 
an  immense  fortune,  which,  when  he  was  deposed  from  his  office, 
he  had  been  suffered  to  retain.  As  Pallas  had  become  wealthy  by 
defrauding  the  imperial  treasury  which  he  administered  under 
Claudius,  there  was  no  glaring  injustice  in  confiscating  his  fortune. 


64   AD.  FIN  AN  CI  AT,   DIFFICULTIES.  285 

Seneca  offered  to  place  his  wealth  at  the  Emperor's  disposal,  but  the 
offer  was  refused. 

But  the  most  important  effect  of  the  financial  difficulties  was  the 
fatal  measure  to  which  the  government  resorted  of  depreciating  the 
gold  and  silver  coinage.  This  began  as  early  as  the  years  61  and  62. 
Forty-five  instead  of  forty  aurei,  and  ninety-six  instead  of  eighty 
denarii,  were  struck  out  of  a  pound  of  gold.  The  coinage  never 
recovered  itself,  and  from  Nero's  reign  we  must  date  the  bankruptcy 
which  reached  a  climax  in  the  third  century.  The  immense  amount 
*>f  silver  which  was  drafted  from  the  Empire  to  Eastern  Asia  in 
return  for  oriental  luxuries,  must  be  taken  into  account  as  a  cause 
of  the  debasement  of  the  silver  coinage.  Nero,  further,  robbed  the 
senate  of  their  right  of  coining  copper — a  right,  the  importance  of 
which  has  been  already  explained.* 


SECT.  III.— THE  GREAT  FIRE  IN  BOMB. 

§  13.  If  Nero  succeeded  in  replenishing  his  coffers  by  fair  means 
and  foul,  an  event  happened  in  64  A.D.,  which  demanded  all  the 
resources  of  the  fiscus.  Fires  were  common  in  Eome,  but  on  the 
night  of  July  18  of  that  year,  a  conflagration  broke  out  which  in 
magnitude  exceeded  anything  that  had  been  experienced  before.  It 
began  among  some  shops  full  of  inflammable  material,  at  the  south- 
east end  of  the  Great  Circus,  where  the  valleys  west  of  the  Cselian 
and  south  of  the  Palatine  meet.  Driven  by  a  high  wind  the  flames 
consumed  the  wooden  benches  and  structures  of  the  Circus,  and 
spread  rapidly  and  irresistibly  over  the  Palatine,  the  Vulia,  and  the 
Esquiline,  where,  near  the  gardens  of  Maecenas,  their  course  was 
stayed.  But  in  another  direction,  also,  the  fire  made  its  way,  and 
consumed  many  buildings  on  the  Aventine,  in  the  Forum  Boarium, 
and  the  Velabrum.  It  raged  for  seven  nights  and  six  days,  and 
when  ;ill  thought  that  it  was  over,  it  broke  out  again  in  the  Campus 
Ma1  tins,  destroyed  the  buildings  of  the  ^Emilian  Gardens,  which 
belonged  to  Tigellinus,  and  spread  to  the  foot  of  the  Capitoline  and 
the  Quirinal.  It  was  said  that  of  the  fourteen  regions,  seven 
completely  and  four  parrially  were  reduced  to  ashes.  But  it  has 
been  shown  that  this  must  be  an  exaggeration,  although  the  damage 
done  was  enormous.  Among  the  public  buildings  which  were 
consumed,  wer<".  the  temple  of  Jupiter  Stator  founded  by  Romulus, 
the  Red  v  of  Numa,  and  the  temple  of  Vesta,  the  temple  of  Diana 
dedicated  by  Servius  on  the  Aventine,  the  Ara  Magna  ascribed  by 
legend  to  Evander — all  ancient  monuments  said  to  date  from  the 
*  See  above,  Chap.  III.  $  5. 


286  THE  PBINCIPATE  OF   NEBO.         CHAP.  xvn. 

time  of  the  kings.  More  serious,  from  a  practical  point  of  view, 
was  the  destruction  of  the  splendid  edifices  of  Augustus  on  the 
Palatine,  the  palace  and  the  temple  of  Apollo.  The  new  build- 
ings in  the  Campus  Martins  near  the  Flarninian  Circus  had  also 
seriously  suffered.  Numbers  of  priceless  works  of  the  great  Greek 
sculptors,  which  no  wealth  could  ever  replace,  perished  in  the 
flames,  and  countless  memorials  and  trophies  of  Roman  history 
must  have  been  lost  for  ever. 

In  this  emergency  Nero  showed  himself  in  the  most  favourable 
light.  He  was  absent  at  Antium  when  the  fire  broke  out,  and  he* 
returned  to  the  city  as  the  conflagration  was  approaching  the  palace, 
He  left  nothing  undone  in  his  attempts  to  qu<  ll  the  flames.  He 
rushed  about  the  city  by  himself,  without  attendants  or  yuards,  to 
the  places  which  were  most  in  danger,  and  when  at  length  the  tire 
ceased  to  spread,  he  did  all  he  coul«l  to  help  and  relieve  the  terrible 
distress  of  the  homeless  and  shelterless  thousands  who  had  lost  all 
their  belongings.  The  public  buildings  and  the  imperial  gardens 
were  opened  to  receive  them,  and  a  temporary  shelter  was  erected 
in  the  Campus.  The  price  of  corn  was  lowere  1  to  three  sesterces  a 
bushel,  and  contributions  were  levied  for  the  relief  of  the  sufferers. 

The  rebuilding  of  Rome  was  begun  with  vigour.  It  must  have 
involved  a  vast  outlay,  and  Nero  was  determined  that  the  city 
should  arise  from  its  ashes  both  on  a  more  splendid  scale  and  on  a 
more  rational  and  salubrious  plan.  The  mi-st-ikes  of  the  old  archi- 
tecture were  comprehended  and  avoided.  The  streets  were  made 
wider,  the  houses  lower  and,  partly  at  least,  of  stone.  Arcades 
were  built  outside  the  new  houses  for  protection  from  sun  and  rain. 
But  the  new  palace — the  Golden  House  as  it  was  called — planned 
by  the  architects  Severus  and  Celer,  was  the  wonder  of  the  restored 
Rome.  It  was  not  so  much  the  spl  ndour  of  the  house  that  excited 
wonder,  as  the  fields,  the  pond.-,  the  wooded  solitudes,  the  views  of 
the  park.  Italv  and  the  provinces  were  required  to  contribute  to  the 
restoration  of  their  mi-tress  city,  and  treasures  of  art  which  adorned 
rhe  ci'ies  and  temples  of  the  Greek  lands  were  carried  off  to  replace 
those  which  Rome  had  lose. 

§  14.  There  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  the  outbreak  of  this 
great  fire  was  other  than  accidental.  But,  the  multitude  suspected 
incendiaries,  and  a  wild  rumour  was  circulated  that  the  Emperor 
himself  was  privy  to  the  burning  of  the  city.  Various  motives 
were  attributed  for  such  a  monstrous  act.  It  was  said  that  he 
wished  to  outlive  the  destruction  of  his  mother-city,  or  that  he 
desired  to  rebuild  Rome  and  call  it  by  his  own  name,  or  that  his 
artistic  sense  was  offended  by  the  architectural  ugliness  of  the  city. 
It  is  also  related  that  he  regarded  the  ravages  of  the  flames  from 


64  A.D.  THE  GKEAT  FIEE  AT  ROME.  287 

the  palace  of  Maecenns  with  delight,  and  snng  a  «cene  f  om  I  is  own 
play  on  the  Capture  of  Troy.  For  this  anecdo-e  there  may  U-  some 
foundation  in  fact.  But  the  charge  of  incendiarism,  which  even 
contemporaries  brought  against  Nero,  was  assuredly  false.  He  had 
nothing  to  gain  and  everything  to  lose  by  the  destruction  of  Home. 
The  solicitude  which  he  always  showed  for  the  wel'are  of  the 
populace,  and  the  efforts  which  lie  made  to  save  the  Palatine,  are 
hardly  consistent  with  such  a  supposition.  Nor  is  it  conceivable 
that,  at  a  moment  when  he  was  pressed  by  financial  difficulties,  he 
would  have  gone  out  of  his  way  to  burden  the  treasury  with  the 
enormous  expenses  required  for  the  rebuilding  of  the  city  and  the 
maintenance  of  the  sufferers.  The  Emperor  had  many  enemies, 
whose  interest  it  was  to  place  him  in  the  worst  light,  and  we  can 
easily  understand  that  they  either  originated  or  fostered  the  rumour. 
But  it  was  generally  believed. that  incemliaries  were  at  work, 
and  there  were  police  investigations  which  led  to  the  arrest  and 
punishment  of  a  number  of  people  ''whom  the  vulgar  called 
Christians."  Here  for  the  first  time  the  Christian  sect  appears  on 
the  stage  of  profane  history,  and  the  remarkable  words  in  which 
Taci tus  describes  it  deserve  to  be  quoted.  *•  Christus,  from  whom  this 
name  was  derived,  was  executed  when  Tiberius  was  Imperator,  by 
Pontius  Pilatus  the  procurator.  The  pernicious  superstition,  checked 
for  the  time  being,  again  broke  out,  not  only  in  Ju«l«a,  its  original 
home,  but  even  in  the  city,  the  meeting-place  of  all  horrible  and 
immoral  practices  from  all  quarters  of  the  world."  This  description 
represents  the  popular  belief  that  the  Christians  practised  nil  sorts 
of  horrors  in  their  secret  assemblies,  such  as  cannibalism  and  incest. 
Those  who  were  known  to  he  Christian*,  and  confessed  the  creed 
when  they  were  charged  with  it,  were  first  arrested,  and  some  of 
these,  und^r  torture,  betrayed  the  names  of  many  others  who  were 
secretly  Christians,  but  were  not  known  as  such.  The  prisoners 
were  not  tried  strictly  on  the  charge  of  incendiarism  ;  and  Tac.tus 
seems  to  have  no  doubt  of  their  innocence  01  this  crime,  \\hich  coi.ld 
not  be  brought  home  to  them.  But  as  "  hatred  of  the  human  rare" 
was  in  popular  credence  imputed  to  Christians,  they  were  th  ught 
capable  of  it.  A  consilerab1*  number  were  condemned — really 
because  they  were  prov«  d  to  be  Christians,  but  nominally  on  the 
ground  that  they  were  incendiaries.  They  were  put  to  death  with 
mockery.  Some,  wrapped  in  skins,  were  torn  to  i  ieces  by  dogs ; 
others,  arrayed  in  the  tunica  molesta,  were  set  <(n  fire  to  seive  as 
torches  by  nig  it.*  Nero  gave  up  his  Vatican  gaidens  to  the 


*  Juvenal  describes  this  punishment  in 

the  lines  (Sat.  i.  155  tqq.)t  , 

Pone  Tigellinum,  twda  lucebis  in  ilia,  Et  latum  media  sulcum  deducit  harena. 


Qua    stantes    ardent    qui     flxo     pectore 
ft)  ma  tit, 


288  THE  PRINCIPATE  OF  NERO.         CHAP. 

spectacle  of  these  tortures,  and  at  the  same  time  exhibited  a  show 
in  the  circus  there,  appearing  himself  dressed  as  a  charioteer.  The 
sacrifice  of  these  victims  soothed  the  exasperation  of  the  populace^ 
and  the  Emperor's  callousness  even  brought  about  a  revulsion  of 
feeling. 

The  Christians  of  Rome  were  sacrificed  because  Nero  required 
scapegoats  ;  but  the  question  arises,  why  were  the  Christians,  who 
as  yet  had  attracted  little  public  attention,  selected  for  the  purpose? 
Contemporary  literature  shows  that  at  this  time  the  Jews  were 
objects  of  general  hatred  and  suspicion,  and  it  might  seem  more 
natural  that  they  should  have  been  suspected  and  punished  by  the 
government.  It  is  impossible  to  answer  the  question  with  certainty, 
hut  it  has  been  plausibly  suggested  that  the  Jews  themselves  may 
have  shifted  the  charge  from  their  own  body  upon  the  Christians, 
whom  they  hated  bitterly.  They  might  have  been  the  more  easily 
able  to  effect  this  through  the  influence  of  Poppsea  Sabina  of  whose 
leaning  towards  the  Jews  and  their  religion  there  is  undoubted 
evidence.* 

SECT.  IV. — THE  CONSPIRACY  OF  Piso. 

§  15.  Tigellinus  was  unwearied  in  scenting  out  pretenders  to  the 
Principate.  By  this  policy,  he  helped  to  fill  the  imperial  coffers  and 
to  render  himself  indispensable.  In  64  A.D.,  D.  Junius  Torquatus 
Silanus  was  accused  of  treason  and  driven  to  suicide.  But  a  pro- 
found and  widely-spread  discontent  prevailed  among  the  nobles,  and 
a  conspiracy  was  formed,  which  came  to  a  head  in  the  spring  of  65 
A.D.  C.  Calpurnius  Piso,  whom  the  conspirators  chose  to  fill  the 
place  of  Nero,  was  one  of  the  most  prominent  and  popular  men  in 
Rome  at  this  time.  He  lived  in  magnificent  style,  was  lavish  of  his 
wealth,  and  was  ready  to  place  his  powers  of  oratory  at  the  service  of 
the  poor.  He  had  winning  manners,  and  his  life  was  as  dissolute  as 
that  of  Nero  or  Tigellinus.  He  lazily  consented  to  be  the  centre  of 
a  plot,  the  dangers  of  which  he  was  not  sufficiently  ambitious  to 
share.  What  seemed  to  give  this  enterprise  a  considerable  chance 
of  success,  was  the  adherence  of  Fsenius  Rufus,  the  praetorian  prefect, 
who  was  jealous  and  afraid  of  his  powerful  colleague  Tigellinus. 
Along  with  Rufus  a  number  of  the  tribunes  and  officers,  who  had 
been  passed  over  by  Tigellinus,  joined  the  conspiracy  ;  conspicuous 
among  these  was  the  tribune  Subrius  Flavius.  Among  the  rest 
were  the  consul  designate  Plautius  Lateranus :  Antonius  Natalis,  a 
friend  of  Piso ;  Annseus  Lucanus,  the  poet,  whose  verses  had 
incurred  the  disfavour  of  the  Emperor ;  Claudius  Senecio,  a 
*  She  interceded  for  them  on  other  occasions. 


65  A.D.  CONSPIRACY  OF  PISO.  289 

courtier  constantly  in  attendance  on  Nero,  and  so  able  to  keep  his 
associates  aware  of  what  was  going  on  in  the  palace.  Lucan's  mother 
and  a  freed  woman  named  Epicharis  were  also  initiated  into  the  pro- 
ject. Epicharis  tried  to  win  over  an  officer  of  the  fleet,  Volusius 
Proculus,  who  was  supposed  to  have  a  grudge  against  Nero,  but  he 
deceived  her  expectation  by  revealing  the  affair  to  the  Emperor- 
As,  however,  she  had  mentioned  no  names,  the  conspirators  were 
not  discovered. 

They  then  decided  to  kill  Nero  during  the  feast  of  Ceres,  between 
the  12th  and  19th  of  April,  at  the  games  in  the  circus.  The  plan 
was  the  same  as  that  which  had  been  successfully  adopted  by  the 
assassins  of  Julius  Cassar.  Lateranus  was  to  present  a  petition  to 
Nero,  and  clinging  to  his  legs  throw  him  on  the  ground  ;  the  rest 
were  to  bury  their  weapons  in  his  body.  But  Flavius  Scsevinus,  who 
claimed  the  first  blow,  foolishly  betrayed  the  secret,  which  had 
hitherto  been  closely  preserved.  He  made  his  will,  gave  the  dagger, 
which  he  had  chosen  for  the  deed,  to  his  freedman  Milichus  to 
sharpen,  got  ready  the  appliances  for  binding  up  wounds,  and  gave 
his  slaves  and  freedmen  a  luxurious  feast.  These  unusual  proceed- 
ings excited  the  suspicions  of  Milichus,  who  at  daybreak  sought  and 
obtained  an  audience  with  Nero.  Scsevinus  was  arrested,  but  his 
examination  led  to  nothing,  and  the  plot  would  not  have  been  dis- 
covered if  Milichus  had  not  remembered  the  frequent  visits  which 
his  master  received  from  Natalis.  When  Natalis  was  examined 
separately,  his  evidence  did  not  agree  with  that  of  Scaevinus,  and  in 
this  way  the  accusation  of  the  freedman  was  proved  t->  be  well- 
founded.  Threats  of  torture  and  promises  of  mercy  induced  the  two 
conspirators  to  vie  with  each  other  in  revealing  the  names  of  their 
associates.  Their  conduct  contrasted  with  the  constancy  of  Epi- 
charis, who  submitted  to  tortures,  and  in  the  end  strangl<  d  herself 
rather  than  betray  her  trust.  The  names  of  the  military  con- 
spirators had  not  been  disclosed,  and  Fsenius  Rufus  took  his  seat 
beside  Tigellinus  at  the  trial  and  sought  to  divert  suspicion  from 
himself  by  his  zeal  as  a  judge.  But  when  one  of  the  accused 
denounced  him,  he  turned  pale,  and  could  not  defend  himself.  The 
proceedings  against  the  victims  were  summary,  but  they  were 
allowed  to  choose  their  own  mode  of  death.  Piso,  who  had  shown 
irresolution  and  cowardice  through  the  whole  episode,  and  Lateranus 
were  slain  without  resistance,  and  Piso  made  a  cringing  will  in 
favour  of  the  Emperor. 

§  16.  Among  the  first  whose  names  were  betrayed,  and  who  were 
condemned  to  die,  was  the  philosopher  Seneca.  It  is  not  improbable 
that  he  was  really  implicated  in  the  enterprise,  and  in  any  case  it 
seems  to  have  been  the  wish  of  the  military  associates  in  the  plot 


THE  PBINCIPATE   OF   NERO.         CHAP.  xvn. 

to  elevate  him,  instead  of  Piso,  to  the  supremo  power.  If  Nero 
had  any  wish  to  spare  bis  former  tutor,  he  was  hindered  by  Popj  aea 
and  Tigellinus.  Seneca  had  just  returned  from  Campania  with  his 
wife  Paulina,  and  was  staying  at  a  country  house  four  miles  from 
the  city.  When  the  message  of  death  was  brought,  his  wife 
declared  her  resolution  of  dying  along  with  him,  and  they  severed 
the  veins  of  their  arms.  The  flow  of  blood  in  Seneca's  old  frame 
was  languid,  and  his  agony  was  protrac'ed.  As  he  lay  slowly 
bleeding,  he  dictated  a  composition  which  was  afterwards  published. 
To  hasten  his  end,  he  swallowed  poison,  which,  however,  had  no 
efle  t  on  his  drained  body,  and  death  was  finally  brought  about  by 
the  steam  of  a  hot  bath.  But  Paulina  was  not  permitted  to  die. 
Nero  had  no  cause  of  hatred  against  her,  and  her  arms  were  bound 
up  by  the  orders  of  the  soldiers.  She  lived  some  years  longer, 
faithful  to  her  husband's  memory,  and  the  las' ing  pallor  of  her 
skin  was  a  monument  of  her  attempt  to  die  with  him. 

The  fate  of  this  distinguished  philosopher  and  thai?  of  his 
nephew,  the  poet  Lucan,  give  this  abortive  conspiracy  a  certain 
celebrity.  Lucan  opened  his  veins  in  the  bath,  and,  as  he  felt  the 
animation  depart  from  his  feet  and  hand?,  recited  appropriate 
verses  of  Ids  own,  describing  a  wounded  soldier  bleeding  to 
death.*  Subrius  Flavus,  a  tribune  of  one  of  the  prastorian  cohorts, 
distinguished  himself  by  his  bold  worc's  to  Nero.  When  the 
tyrant  *sked  him  why  he  conspired,  he  replied:  "Because  I  hated 
you.  None  of  the  soldiers  was  more  loyal,  as  long  as  you  deserved 
our  affection.  I  began  to  hate  you,  when  you  became  an  assassin 
of  your  mother  and  your  wife,  a  charioteer,  an  actor  and  an  in- 
cendiary ! "  The  consul  Vestinus  was  included  among  the  victims, 
although  his  guilt  was  not  clear,  and  it  is  said  that  Nero  wanted 
to  get  rid  of  him,  on  account  of  his  wife  Statilia  Messalina.  Nero 
married  Messalina  in  the  following  year. 

Natalia  was  pardoned.  Milichus  was  richly  rewarded,  and 
received  the  name  ol  "Preserver."  The  praatorian  guards  received 
each  man  two  thousan  1  sesterces,  and  were  for  the  future  provided 
with  bread  free  of  cost.  Triumphal  decora  ions  were  granted  to 
the  prefect  Tigellinus,  Cocceius  Nerva,  and  Pctroaius  Turpilianus, 
who  had  helped  in  the  judicial  proceedings,  and  their  statues  were 
set  up  in  the  Palatium.  Consular  insignia  were  conferred  on 
Nymphidius  Sabinus,  who  had  succeeded  Fasnius  Rufus  as  pras- 
torian  prefect.  A  temple  was  erected  to  Salus,  the  dagger  of 
Scasvinus  was  dedicated  to  Jupiter  the  Avenger,  and  'he  month  of 
April  was  named  Neronianus.  It  was  even  pioposed,  but  the 
proposal  was  rejected,  t  >  erect  a  temple  to  Nero.  It  is  noteworthy 
*  Perhaps  Pharsdlia,  iil.  635-646. 


65,  66  A.D.   DEATHS   OF   SKNECA,  PBTBONIUS,  ETC.    291 

that  a  full  account  of  the  judicial  proceedings,  which  were  con- 
ducted by  the  im|  erial  concilium,  was  publi.>hed. 

§  17.  Both  later  in  65  A.D.,  and  in  the  succeeding  year,  executions 
took  place  which  seem  to  have  been  in  some  way  connected  with 
the  conspiracy  of  Piso.  Annseus  Mela,  brother  of  Seneca  and 
father  of  Lucnn,  was  condemned  on  the  ground  of  a  forged  letter 
of  his  son,  charging  him  with  complication  in  Piso's  plot.  He  was 
a  rich  man,  and  Nero  wanted  his  possessions.  About  the  same 
time  perished  T.  P^tr-  niu*,  on  the  charge  of  a  suspicions  friendship 
with  the  conspirator  Scsevinus,  but  really  on  account  of  the 
jealousy  of  Tigellinus.  Petronius  was  a  man  who  made  the  plea- 
sures of  vice  a  fine  art,  and  his  judgment  was  regarded  as  the 
standard  of  taste  in  all  matters  of  luxury  at  Rome.  He  was  "  the 
glass  of  fashion."  h  s  feasts  were  elegant,  his  debauchery  refined. 
He  was  nam>  d  Arbiter,  as  the  arbitrator  or  director  of  the  Emperor's 
plasures,  and  Tigellinus,  who  aspired  to  be  Nero's  sole  guide  in 
such  things,  ei.vied  the  influence  of  Petronius.  When  the  Em- 
peror was  in  Campania  (66  A.D.),  Tigellinus  caused  Petronius  to  be 
detained  at  Cumse.  Seeing  that  his  fate  was  determined,  the 
voluptuary  was  true  to  t'ie  principles  of  his  life  in  the  moments  of 
his  death.  Having  opened  his  veins,  he  bade  the  physician  bind 
them  up  again,  and  r«peating  this  operation  at  intervals,  he  spent 
his  last  hours  at  a  banquet,  amusing  his  friends  with  wanton 
verses  He  also  composed  an  account  of  the  unnatural  orgies  of 
the  Emperor,  and  sent  it  to  him  under  seal.  This  led  to  the 
banishment  of  a  woman  named  Silia,  whom  Nero  suspected  of 
having  betrayed  the  scenes  in  the  palace  in  which  she  had  taken 
part. 

§  18.  "  Having  butchered  so  many  illustrious  men,  Nero  at 
leng'h  desired  to  dest'oy  virtue  herself  by  the  death  of  Thiasea 
Pa^tus  and  I 'area  Soranus."  P.  Clodius  Thrasea  Pse'us  was  more 
remarkable  for  what  he  was  than  for  anything  he  did.  He  was 
the  leader  of  the  party  of  opposition  whicn  yearned,  helplessly, 
for  the  resto-ation  of  the  Republic  and  set  up  the  younger  Cato 
as  their  ideal.  He  was  the  embodiment  of  their  virtues  and 
their  faults.  Born  at  Patavium,  he  was  simple  in  his  habits, 
incorruptible  in  his  morals,  and  out  of  sympathy  with  the 
luxury  of  Rome.  He  matried  Arria,  the  daughter  of  a  man  who 
had  fallen  in  a  conspiracv  against  Claudius,  and  whose  wife  had 
heroically  slain  hersnif.  He  and  his  son-in-law,  Helvidius  Pri>cus, 
used  to  crown  themselves  with  garlands,  and  celebra'e  the  birth- 
days <  f  Brutu*  and  Cass  us.  'Ihrasea  distinguished  himself  in  the 
senate  by  his  rough  independence.  He  withdrew,  without  voting, 
when  the  motion  was  made  to  condemn  the  memory  of  Agrippina; 


292 


THE  PRINCIPATE   OF  NERO.         CHAP, 


be  declined  to  take  any  part  in  the  Neronian  games ;  he  did  not 
attend  the  funeral  of  Poppsea.  When  one  Antistius  was  con- 
demned to  death  for  mocking  the  Emperor  in  verse,  Thrasea 
endeavoured  to  moderate  the  flattery  of  the  senate.  It  was  said 
that  he  never  sacrificed  for  the  Emperor's  safety.  He  and  his 
party  were  always  protesting  against  the  government  in  insig- 
nificant matters,  and  asserting  their  independence  in  trifles.  Their 
republican  ideal  was  an  anachronism ;  their  rhetoric  was  hollow. 
Their  activity  was  chiefly  confined  to  society  and  literature. 
Thrasea  was  a  Stoic,  and  he  composed  a  life  of  his  model,  Cato. 
Lucan's  Pharsalia  was  a  characteristic  work  of  this  party  of 
opposition,  which,  throughout  the  whole  period  of  the  Julian 
and  Claudian  dynasties,  fostered  its  Utopias  and  repeated  its  hollow 
phrases.  It  must  be  owned  that  they  had  the  courage  of  their 
opinions,  and  that  their  bitterness  against  the  Principate  was, 
natural  enough;  for  its  institution  had  destroyed  the  political 
power  of  the  senatorial  order.  Nor  could  they  see,  as  clearly  as 
we  can  see  now,  that  even  imperial  despotism  was  a  lesser  evil  for 
the  Roman  world  than  the  government  of  the  senate  in  the  last 
days  of  the  Republic. 

The  courageous  obstinacy  of  Thrasea  led  to  his  destruction.  All 
his  little  sins  of  omission  and  commission  against  the  majesty  of  the 
Emperor  were  marshalled  by  Capito  Cossutianus,  a  son-in-law  of 
Tigellinus,  and  another  delator,  Eprius  Marcellus ;  and  at  the  same 
time  Barea  Soranus  was  accused  on  various  charges ;  among  others, 
that  he  had  been  intimate  with  Rubellius  Plautus.  The  chief 
witness  against  him  was  P.  Egnatius  Celer,  a  Stoic  philosopher. 
The  daughter  of  Soranus,  Servilia,  was  also  charged  with  treason- 
able divination  concerning  Nero.  The  cases  were  tried  by  the 
senate,  and  all  three  were  condemned.*  Helvidius  Priscus,  who 
was  likewise  accused  of  neglecting  his  duties  as  senator,  was 
banished.  Thrasea  adopted  the  usual  mode  of  death  among 
condemned  nobles,  and  opened  his  veins,  forbidding  his  wife  Arria 
to  follow  her  mother's  example.  As  the  first  blood  spouted,  he 
said,  "  A  libation  to  Jove  the  Deliverer !  " 

§  19.  In  the  meantime  Nero  had  been  busy  with  those  pursuits 
for  which  ho  imagined  that  he  had  a  special  calling.  He  had 
appeared  publicly  on  the  stage  at  Neapolis  (64  A.D.),  where,  from 
the  Greek  character  of  the  city,  he  expected  a  favourable  reception, 
and  he  received  such  enthusiastic  applause  that  he  determined  to 


*  These  trials  took  place  about  the 
same  time  of  the  year  (66  A.D.)  that 
Tiridates  arrived  in  Home  to  receive  the 
crown  of  Armenia  from  Nero;  probably 


about  the  middle  of  the  year.— Cf.  J  u  venal, 
Sat.,  iii.  116 : 

Stoicus  occidit  Baream  delator,  aniicuti, 
Diacipulumque  senex. 


66,  67  A.D. 


NERO   IN   GREECE. 


293 


exhibit  his  skill  to  Greece  herself.  He  had  made  preparations  for 
a  visit  to  that  country,  but  the  project  was  not  carried  out  until 
two  years  later.  In  the  meantime  he  celebrated  the  Neronia  a 
second  time  (65  A.D.),  read  his  poems  to  a  delighted  audience,  and 
appeared  as  a  citharoedus.  It  was  considered  almost  high  treason 
not  to  appear  in  the  theatre  on  such  occasions.  Towards  the  close 
of  the  following  year  (66)  Nero  visited  Greece,  where  he  appeared 
at  all  the  public  spectacles,  and  danced  and  sang  without  any 
reserve.  Those  towns  in  which  musical  contests  were  held  had 
sent  invitations  to  him,  offering  him  prizes,  and  the  four  great 
games  at  Olympia,  Delphi,  Isthmus,  and  Nemea,  which  were 
regularly  celebrated  in  successive  years,  were  crowded  into  the 
space  of  one  year  for  his  sake,  so  that  he  could  win  the  j^lory  of 
being  a  periodonikos  or  victor  at  all  four.*  Besides  this  irregularity, 
a  musical  contest  was  held  at  Olympia,  contrary  to  wont.  He  also 
competed  in  a  chariot-race,  and  is  said  to  have  received  the  prize, 
though  his  horses  and  chariot  fell.  The  proclamation  was  made  in 
this  form :  "  Nero  the  Emperor  is  victorious,  and  crowns  the 
People  of  the  Romans  and  the  world  which  is  his,"  Nero  was 
attended  on  his  Greek  tour  by  a  large  train  of  courtiers  and 
prsetorian  guards,  and  he  seems  to  have  indulged  in  debauchery 
with  less  reserve  than  ever.  He  had  a  profound  admiration  for 
Greece  and  the  Greek  people,  and  he  could  not  brook  that  they 
should  hold  the  position  of  mere  provincials.  He  determined  to 
reward  them  for  their  kindness  to  himself  and  their  appreciation  of 
his  artistic  talents.  So  he  enacted  at  Corinth  the  scene  which, 
two-and-a-half  centuries  before,  had  been  enacted  by  Flamininus. 
He  proclaimed  in  the  market-place  the  freedom  of  the  Greeks  ;  the 
province  of  Achaia  was  done  away  with.  The  proclamation  of 
Nero  was  very  different  in  practical  effect  from  that  of  Flamininus. 
It  was  harmless ;  it  did  not  mean  civil  war ;  it  merely  relieved  a 
favoured  portion  of  the  Empire  from  the  burden  of  taxation. 
Nero's  Greek  visit  was  also  marked  by  a  serious  attempt  to  cut 
through  the  Isthmus  of  Corinth,  a  project  which  had  been  most 
recently  entertained  by  his  uncle  Gaius.  Nero  inaugurated  the 
beuinuing  of  the  work  himself,  but  after  his  departure  it  was 
abandoned. 

Nero's  visit  to  Greece  was  marked  by  the  destruction  of  three 
consular  legates,  of  whose  power  or  ambition  the  Emperor  was 
jealous  or  afraid.  The  most  important  of  these  was  Corbulo, 


*  Juvenal  has  som«  well-known  verses 
on  this  degradation  < >l  the  imperial  dignity 
'£&«.,  x.  224  sqq.)  -. 

Haec  opera  atiju  hae  sunt  generosl 
principis  artes 


Gaudentis  foedo  peregrina  ad   pulpita 

cantu 
Prostitui    Graiipqiie    apium     mrrniss" 

coronse. 


294  THE  PBINCIPATE  OF  NERO.         CHAP.  xvn. 

whom  we  have  already  met  on  the  Khine,  and  whose  exploits  in 
the  east  will  be  recorded  in  the  following  chapter.  The  other  two 
were  Scribonius  Rufus  and  Scribonius  Proculus,  brothers,  who  at  this 
time  were  the  legati  of  the  two  Germanics.  It  is  unknown,  what 
accusations  were  preferred  agiinst  them,  or  who  #ere  their  enemies. 
While  the  Emperor  was  absent,  he  left  a  freedman  named  Helius 
as  his  representative  in  Home,  and  he  could  probably  have  found 
no  one  more  faithfully  devoted  to  his  in  erests.  At  the  be^inninj; 
of  the  year  68  A.D.  serious  signs  of  discontent  were  apparent  in 
the  provinces,  and  plots  in  the  western  armies  a.uainst  the  Emj^ror 
were  suspected.  Helius  crossed  over  to  Greece,  and  urged  Nero  to 
return  if  he  would  save  his  power.  He  entered  Rome,  borne  in  the 
charios  in  which  Augustus  had  triumphed,  crowned  with  the 
Olympian  wreath.  He  was  hailed  as  Nero  Apollo  and  Neio 
Hercules,  and  coins  were  struck,  on  which  he  was  depicted  as  a 
flute-player.  But  although  lie  was  Mattered  ou  all  sides,  he  soon 
left  Rome  for  Campania,  where  he  breathed  more  freely. 


SECT.  V. — THE  REVOLT  OF  VINDEX,  AND  FALL  OF  NERO. 

§  20.  The  events  which  led  to  the  fall  of  Nero  began  in  Ganl, 
although  it  was  not  from  Gaul  that  the  final  blow  was  to  come. 
C.  Julius  Vindex,  sprung  of  a  noble  Celtic  family,  but  thoroughly 
Romanised  and  adopted  into  the  imperial  ^ens,  was  governor  of 
Gallia  Lugudunensis.  At  the  beginning  of  68  A.D  ,  he  raised  the 
standard  of  revolt.  It  is  not  quite  clear  what  his  ultimate  inten- 
tions  were,  but  he  seems  to  have  conceived  the  idea  of  a  kingdom 
of  Gaul,  ruled  by  himself,  nominally  perhaps  dependent  on  the 
Empire,  like  the  former  kingdom  of  Mauretania.  But  it  was 
practically  an  attempt  to  throw  off  the  Roman  y"ke.  Vindex  may 
be  regarded  as  a  successor  of  Vercingetorix  and  Sacrovir.  He 
collected  from  various  parts  of  Gaul  a  force  of  about  100,000  men. 
The  districts  of  the  Arverni  and  the  Sequani  joined  in  the  move- 
ment, and  the  town  of  Vienna  on  the  Rhone  was  a  sort  of  centre 
for  the  rebellion.  But  Luuudunum,  the  capital  of  the  Three 
Provinces,  held  aloof,  as  did  the  Lingones  nnd  the  Treveri  on  the 
borders  of  Germany.  The  troops  which  Vindex  gathered  were 
ill-disciplined  and  ill-armed,  the  enterprise  was  hopeless  unless  he 
could  induce  some  of  the  western  armies  to  take  part  in  it.  His 
attempts  to  win  the  armies  of  the  Rhine  were  fruii  less,  but  he  was 
more  successful  in  Hither  Spain.  We  have  already  met  Galba,  the 
governor  of  that  province.  He  had  distinguished  himself  slightly 
both  on  the  Rhine  and  in  Africa.  He  was  already  in  his  seventy- 


68  A.D.  REVOLT    OF    VINDEX.  295 

third  year,  and  in  his  childhood  had  seen  Augustus,  who  had  said 
to  him,  according  to  report, "  Thon  shalt  one  day  taste  our  empire.' 
It  is  probable  that  Galba  had  already  thought  of  rebellion  before  he 
received  the  overtures  from  Vindex.  Oracles  were  afloat  that  an 
Emperor  was  to  arise  from  Spain.  The  revolt  of  Vindex,  and  the 
pressure  of  his  lieutenant,  T.  Vinius,  decided  the  old  man  ;  and,  as 
he  belonged  to  the  senatorial  party,  his  declaration  of  rebellion 
took  the  form  of  declaring  himself  the  servant  of  the  senate.  Afier 
considerable  hesitation,  on  April  2nd  he  named  himself  the  legatus 
senatus  populique  Romani  in  a  spei-ch  delivered  from  his  tribunal, 
and  made  preparations  for  war.  In  Spain  he  was  supported  by 
Otho,  leiiatus  of  Lusitania,  and  Cascina,  qusestor  of  Bastica ;  but 
their  adherence  was  of  little  consequence  if  the  legions  of  the 
Rhine  and  Clodius  Macer,  governor  ot  Africa,  held  aloof. 

§  21.  In  the  meantime  the  issue  of  the  revolt  of  Vindex  had 
been  decided.  When  the  m^  ws  was  brought,  Nero  returned  to  Rome, 
and  took  measures  lor  its  suppression.  Those  troops,  which  were 
already  on  their  march  from  Germany  and  Britain  to  prosecute  a 
war  against  the  Sarmatians,  received  orders  to  return.  But  the 
quelling  of  the  rebellion  was  due  to  Verginius  Rufus,  the  legatus 
of  Upper  Germany,  who  resisted  all  the  endeavours  of  Vindex  to 
gain  him  over.*  Alarmed  by  the  national  character  of  the  move- 
ment, Verginius  advanced  with  Ids  own  legions,  reinforced  by  a 
division  from  the  lower  province,  to  Vesontio,  which  was  threatened 
by  the  Gallic  militia  of  the  rebel.  Vesontio,  whose  name  has 
become  Besancon,  was  a  very  important  place ;  for  at  it  the  roads 
from  Lower  Germany  and  north- western  Gaul,  from  the  Rhine  and 
from  the  Jura  mountains,  m- 1.  Here  a  great  battle  t<  >ok  place.  The 
legions  were  completely  victorious,  and  Vindex  was  slain.  It  was 
not  loyalty  to  Nero  that  had  induced  the  Germanic  army  to  repel 
the  advances  of  Vindex  :  it  was  rather  the  Gallic  character  of  the 
revolt.  This  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  after  the  victory  they 
proclaimed  their  general  Impcrator.  But  he  resisted  the  temptation. 
He  was  a  man  of  lowly  birth,  and  perhnps  thought  tiiat  he  had  no 
chance  ol  being  accepted  by  the  nobility  of  Rome.  In  the  inscrip- 
tion for  his  tomb,  which  he  compose  d  before  his  death,  he  mentions 
as  the  two  creditable  actions  of  his  life  his  victory  over  Vindex  and 
his  refusal  of  the  Empip-.f 


*  Juvenal  groups  Verginius  with 
Vindex  and  Gal  ha.  as  if  he  too  had  taken 
part  in  the  overthrow  of  Nero.  What 
deed  of  \ero's  tyranny,  a*ks  the  sa'irist, 
deserved  the  vengeance  ot  those  three 
more  than  his  singing  and  his  scribbling  ? 
(viii.  221 ) : 

Quid  enim  Verginius  armis 


Debuit  ulcisci  magis  aut  cum  Vindice 

Galba, 
Quod  Nero  tani  saeva  crudaque  tyraunide 

f  cit  ? 
f  Hie  situs  est  Rufus  pulso  qui  Vindice 

quondam 
Imperium     asseruit     mm     sibi     ned 

patrte. 


296  THE  PRINCIPATE  OF  NERO.         CHAP.  xvu. 

§22.  After  the  failure  of  the  revolt  in  Gaul,  the  situation  of 
Galba  seemed  hopeless,  and  he  despaired  himself.  But  he  was 
saved  by  the  Emperor's  want  of  resolution,  and  the  treachery  of 
the  ministers.  When  the  news  of  the  defection  in  Spain  arrived 
in  Rome,  Nero  confiscated  Galba's  property,  and  himself  assumed 
the  consulship.  He  made  preparations  for  an  expedition  against 
Galba,  and  appointed  Petronius  Turpilianus  as  the  commander.  A 
new  legion  was  organised  from  the  troops  of  the  fleet  and  called 
legio  classica.  But  the  praetorian  guards,  who  were  devoted  to  the 
Julian  house,  seemed  to  have  remained  quietly  in  their  camp, 
instead  of  taking  the  field,  as  we  should  have  expected. 

The  prefect  Tigellinus  vanishes  from  the  scene,  and  plays  no 
part  in  the  catastrophe  of  his  master.  His  fall  was  probably  due 
to  the  intrigues  of  Nymphidius  Sabinus,  the  other  prefect,  who 
nominally  embraced  the  cause  of  Galba,  but  was  really  aiming  at 
securing  the  Empire  for  himself.  If  Nero  had  not  utterly  lost 
his  head,  he  was  secure  in  the  loyalty  of  the  praetorian  guards, 
notwithstanding  the  aspirations  of  the  prefect.  But  he  was  a 
coward,  and  his  irresolution  drove  his  supporters  away.  Dull 
dissatisfaction  prevailed  in  Rome.  Corn  was  dear,  and  when  a  ship 
arrived  from  Egypt  which  proved  to  be  laden,  not  with  corn,  but 
with  sand  for  the  Emperor's  arena,  the  discontent  became  acute. 
It  was  reported  that  Nero  entertained  the  idea  of  abandoning 
Rome,  and  sailing  to  Alexandria,  to  make  that  city  the  capital  of 
an  eastern  empire — the  idea  which  Antonius  had  almost  realised. 
The  senate  was  naturally  eager  to  overthrow  the  tyrant,  who  hated 
it,  in  favour  of  Galba,  but  feared  to  compromise  itself  until  the 
praetorian  guards  had  declared  themselves.  In  order  to  draw  them 
from  their  devotion  to  Nero,  Nymphidius  resorted  to  an  artifice.  He 
persuaded  the  Emperor,  who  was  distracted  with  fear,  to  repair  from 
the  palace  to  the  Servilian  gardens,  which  lay  close  to  the  Tiber, 
on  the  road  to  Ostia.  He  then  went  to  the  camp  and  informed  the 
soldiers  that  Nero  had  deserted  them  and  left  Rome.  They  were 
easily  convinced  that  it  was  their  interest  to  support  Galba,  and 
the  wily  prefect  promised  them  in  Galba's  name  a  donative  of 
30,000  sesterces  each.  He  knew  that  Galba  would  never  fulfil  the 
promise,  and  he  hoped,  by  means  of  the  consequent  dissatisfaction, 
to  secure  his  own  ends.  Meanwhile,  in  the  Servilian  gardens  the 
Emperor  was  devising  counsels  of  despair.  He  was  gradually 
deserted  by  his  courtiers  and  most  of  his  slaves  and  freedmen ;  and 
the  praetorian  cohort,  which  was  keeping  guard  at  the  palace,  left 
its  post  at  midnight.  At  length  he  determined  to  flee  from  Rome, 
but  could  induce  no  friend  to  share  his  danger,  except  a  few  freed- 
men. One  officer  scornfully  quoted  Virgil,  "  Is  it  so  hard  to  die  ? >J 


A.D.  DEATH  OF  .NERO.  297 


One  of  the  imperial  freedmen,  named  Phaon,  offered  his 
the  refuge  of  a  villa,  alxnit  four  miles  north-east  of  Home,  on  the 
Via  Patinaria,  a  cross-road  connecting  the  Via  Salaria  and  the  Via 
Nomentana.  Thither  he  started  by  night  accompanied  by  Phaon, 
Epaphroditus,  and  two  other  freedmen.  The  historians  have  not 
failed  to  invest  the  night-ride  and  the  last  scene  of  Nero's  life  with 
dramatic  colouring.  The  Via  Nomentana  went  close  to  the 
praetorian  camp  and  shouts  in  honour  of  Galba  reached  the  ears 
of  the  fugitives  as  they  passed.  The  night  was  wild,  with  lightning 
and  earthquakes.  Nero  crept  into  the  villa  by  a  narrow  entrance 
at  the  back,  in  order  not  to  arouse  the  suspicions  of  the  slaves. 
There  he  lay  on  straw  for  hours,  unable  to  make  up  his  mind  to 
die.  "  What  an  artist  I  am  to  perish  ! "  he  said.  But  when  a 
slave  of  Phaon  arrived  with  the  news  that  the  senate  had  con- 
demned him  to  death  more  maiorum,  and  that  he  was  being 
sought  for  everywhere,  he  made  up  his  mind  to  escape  a  cruel 
execution.  The  tramp  of  horses'  feet  was  heard  in  the  distance, 
when  he  pressed  a  dagger  to  his  throat,  and  it  was  driven  home  by 
Epaphroditus.  As  he  was  dying,  a  centurion  entered,  and  pre- 
tended he  had  come  to  help  him.  "  Too  late ! — that  was  fidelity 
indeed ! "  were  Nero's  last  words.  He  perished  on  June  9,  68  A.D. 
His  body  was  burnt,  and  the  ashes  were  buried  honorably  in  the 
sepulchre  of  the  Domitian  gens  on  the  Pincian  hill. 

§  23.  At  first  the  tidings  of  his  fall  caused  universal  joy.  The 
senate,  who,  as  soon  as  the  decision  of  the  praetorian  guards  was 
known,  had  hastened  to  sentence  him  to  a  punishment  which  was 
almost  obsolete,  condemned  his  memory  and  ordered  his  statues  to 
be  overthrown.  The  intense  hatred  which  the  senatorial  party 
felt  towards  Nero  is  most  clearly  seen  in  literature.  But  among 
the  mass  of  the  people,  a  reaction  soon  set  in.  The  tyrant's  grave 
was  adorned  annually  with  wreaths  of  flowers.  Many  people 
doubted  the  reality  of  his  death,  and  looked  for  his  reappearance ; 
and  under  succeeding  Emperors  three  false  Neros  arose  and 
obtained  a  following.  King  Vologeses  of  Parthia  sent  an  embassy, 
requesting  the  senate  and  the  new  Princeps  to  hold  the  memory  of 
Nero  in  honour.  Christians  saw  in  Nero  the  Antichrist,  and 
thought  that  as  such  he  would  come  again. 

Nero  was  the  last  of  th«  true  Caesars — the  last,  we  may  say,  ot 
the  Julian  line.  Strictly  he  belonged^  by  adoption,  to  the  Claudii, 
yet  the  Claudian  and  Julian  houses  had  been  so  closely  connected 
since  the  union  of  Augustus  with  Livia,  that  politically  little  dis- 
tinction was  made  between  them  Nero  was  not  only  the  adopted 
son  of  Claudius  ;  he, was  also,  through  his  mother,  the  great-great- 
grandson  of  Augustus,  and  *he  grandson  of  Germanicus,  who 
13* 


298  THE   PKINC1PATE   OF  JMEKO.         CHAP.  xvii. 

belonged,  by  adoption,  to  the  Julian  gens.  Thus  it  was  felt,  when 
Nero  perished  without  an  heir,  that  the  line  of  the  great  Dictator 
had  come  to  an  end  and  a  new  epoch  was  beginning. 

§  24.  The  features  of  Nero  were  handsome,  but  his  expression 
was  no'  pleasant.  His  face  wore  a  sort  of  scowl,  perhaps  due  to 
his  defective  sight.  His  body  was  ill-made ;  he  had  a  prominent 
stomach  and  thin  legs.  In  his  later  years  his  skin  was  blotched 
from  excesses ;  but  his  health  was  good.  As  a  professional  singer, 
he  was  very  careful  about  his  voice.  His  effeminacy  was  shown 
in  the  arrangement  of  his  hair,  and  in  the  looseness  of  the 
cincture  which  bound  his  dress  when  he  appeared  m  public.  His 
capricious  tyranny  recalls,  in  many  respects,  the  extravagances  of 
Gaius.  Like  Gains  he  was  "  a  lover  of  the  incredible."  But  while 
the  mad  Gaius  had  almost  a  genius  for  devising  absurdities  on  a 
colossal  scale,  Nero  was  merely  extravagant  on  the  beaten  tracks 
of  luxury.  He  gave  immense  presents  to  his  favourites,  and  tried  to 
outdo  his  predecessors  in  the  spaciousness  of  his  buildings.  He 
projected  a  canal  from  Puteoli  to  Rome,  as  well  as  the  cutting  of 
the  isthmus.  He  did  not  aspire  to  divinity,  like  Gaius,  but  rather 
at  being  pre-eminent  among  men  and  receiving  their  admiration. 
He  was  vain  rather  than  proud.  He  adopted  superstitions  from 
the  east,  and  practised  mauic.  In  his  later  years,  the  senators  seem 
to  have  kept  quite  aloof  trom  his  court,  and  he  hated  them  cordially. 
No  flattery  pleased  him  more  than  when  a  courtier  said,  "  I  hate 
you,  Nero,  because  you  are  a  senator." 


SECT.  VI. — NERO'S  ADMINISTRATION. 

§  25.  The  peculiarity  of  Nero's  principate  was  that  it  was 
marked  by  good  government  under  a  bad  Emperor.  Nero  himself 
was  devoid  of  political  insight  and  spent  no  care  on  the  adminis- 
tration. Yet  in  general  policy  and  in  the  conduct  of  military 
affairs,  there  is  little  to  blame,  if  there  is  little  to  praise,  in  his 
government  in  the  early  years  of  his  reign.  This  was  not  due  to 
the  Princeps.  It  was  partly  due  to  well-trained  ministers,  to 
Seneca  and  Burrus  especially ;  but  it  was  also  due  to  the  ex- 
cellence of  the  machine  which  Caesar  the  Dictator  and  Augustus 
had  set  goin'j;.  It  was  perhaps  as  well  that  the  political  views  of 
the  ministers  were  strictly  limited  by  the  system  of  Augustus. 
They  did  not  introduce  any  new  idea  into  the  government.  It  was 
a  more  serious  defect  that  their  activity  was  mainly  confined  to 
the  interests  of  the  capital.  They  concerned  themselves  less 
with  the  welfare  of  the  provinces.  It  must  be  admitted,  however, 


54-68  A.D.          THE  SENATE   UNDEK  NKRO.  299 

that   they  appointed    able    officers    to    the    commands    on    the 
frontiers. 

The  revival  of  the  power  of  the  senate  in  Nero's  early  years  has 
been  already  noticed.  In  56  A.D.  the  management  of  the  sera  Hum 
was  transierred  from  the  quaestors  to  two  prefects,  of  praetorian 
standing,  who  were  to  be  appointed  by  the  Kmpeior  and  hold 
office  for  three  years.  Tl.is  perhaps  served  to  give  the  Emperor 
more  control  over  the  money  which  the  fisc  advanced  to  the 
aararium.  In  the  same  year  the  tribunes  were  deprived  of  their 
rights  of  intercession  and  inflicting  fines.  It  was  probably  in  this 
reign  that  the  independence  of  the  senate  was  diminished  by  the 
Emperor's  extension  of  the  right  of  commendation  to  the  consulate, 
which  had  hitherto  been  exempted  from  this  influence.  But 
the  most  serious  aggression  of  Nero  against  the  senate,  was  his 
appropriation  of  the  right  of  issuing  copper  coinage,  which  had 
hitherto  been  reserved  lor  the  senaie.*  He  also  entertained  the 
idea  of  abolishing  the  senatorial  privilege  of  holding  the  high 
commands  in  the  provinces  and  armies,  in  fact  of  abolishing  the 
senate  altogether,  and  carrying  on  the  business  of  the  state  by 
means  of  the  knights  and  freedmen.  In  the  field  of  civil  legis- 
lation several  useful  measures  were  passed,  among  which  may  be 
mentioned  that  which  forbade  the  exhibitions  of  gladiators  and 
beasts  in  the  provinces. 

§  26.  In  provincial  administration  the  reign  of  Nero  was 
marked  by  numerous  processes  for  extortion,  both  in  senatorial  and 
in  imperial  provinces,  instituted  by  the  subjects  against  their 
governors.  Cestius  Proculus,  accused  by  the  Cretans,  was  acquitted. 
P.  Celer,  proconsul  of  Asia,  died  before  his  case  was  decided. 
Tarquitius  Piiscus,  accused  by  Bithynia,  was  condemned;  and 
Pedius  Blassus,  accused  by  Cyrenaica,  was  degraded  from  the 
senate.  In  the  imperial  provinces,  Cossutianus  Capito*  was  pro- 
secuted by  Cilicia,  and  condemned,  but  pardoned  by  Nero,  owing  to 
the  influence  of  his  father-in-law  Tigellinus.  Sardinia  accused 
Vipsanius  Lasnas  and  obtained  his  condemnation;  but  Eprius 
Marcellus,  accused  by  Lycia,  was  acquitted.  Some  of  these  processes 
can  e  before  the  senate,  others  before  the  Emperor.  In  57  A.D.  an 
edict  was  issued,  forbidding  provincial  governors  and  procurators  to 
exhibit  spectacles.  Many  had  been  in  the  habit  of  doing  this,  in 
order  to  reconcile  the  people  to  their  unjust  administration.  These 
facts  prove  that  the  subjects  were  still  exposed  to  injustice  from 
their  governors,  and  also  that  under  Nero  they  were  encouraged  to 
complain. 

A  new  procuratorial  province  was  created,  Pontus  Polemoniacus ; 

*  See  above,  &  12. 


300  THE  PRINCIPATE  OF  NERO.         CHAP.  XVH. 

and  Alpes  Cottix  was  placed  under  procurators.  The  districts  of 
the  Cottian  and  the  Maritime  Alps  had  been  Romanised  since  their 
pacification  under  Augustus,  and  now  received  the  ius  Latinum. 
Possibly  the  Pennine  Alps  also  became  a  procuratorial  province 
as  early  as  Nero.  The  preservation  of  the  Latin  nationality 
occupied  the  serious  attention  of  the  government ;  new  blood  was 
imported  into  Italy  from  the  provinces ;  and  a  considerable  number 
of  towns  were  colonised,  including  Antium,  Beneventum,  Capua, 
Tarentum,  Nuceria,  Puteoli.  The  progress  of  Roman  civilisation 
in  Spain  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  the  three  legions  placed  there  by 
Augustus  were  reduced  under  Nero  to  two.  It  has  been  already 
mentioned  that  Nero  gave  the  Greeks  their  freedom.  As  this  act 
deprived  the  senate  of  a  province,  he  made  up  the  loss  to  the 
serarium  by  transferring  to  the  senate  the  imperial  province  of 
Sardinia  and  Corsica. 

In  the  middle  of  Nero's  reign  an  important  colonisation  took 
place  in  Mcesia,  which  was  constantly  threatened  by  invasions  of 
barbarians  from  the  north,  and  seems  to  have  suffered  from  de- 
population. The  legatus,  Tiberius  Plautius  Silvanus  ^Elianus, 
settled  100,000  inhabitants  of  the  land  beyond  the  Danube  in  the 
Moesian  territory.  They  were  obliged  to  pay  a  certain  tribute  and 
also  doubtless  to  perform  military  service  in  case  of  need.  He  also 
extended  the  sphere  of  Roman  influence  on  the  north  shore  of  the 
Euxine  by  annexing  to  the  Empire  the  town  of  '.  yras.  The 
advance  of  Roman  arms  in  Britain  has  already  been  related.  The 
war  for  Armenia  and  the  rebellion  in  Judea  will  be  described  in 
subsequent  chapters. 

§  27.  The  project  of  an  overland  water-route  from  the  Mediter- 
ranean to  the  North  Sea  was  proposed  by  Lucius  Vetus,  the  legatus 
of  Upper  Germany  (55-56  A.D.).  It  was  merely  required  to  cut 
a  canal  -connecting  the  Arar  (the  Sa6ne),  with  the  Mosella. 
Thus  ships  might  sail  up  the  Rhone,  turn  into  the  Arar  at 
Lugudunum,  reach  the  Mosella  by  the  projected  channel,  and 
descend  the  Mosella  into  the  Rhine.  But  the  jealousy  of  ^Elius 
Gracilis,  the  legatus  of  Belgica,  frustrated  the  execution  of  this 
plan,  which  would  have  necessitated  the  brin-ing  of  the  legions  of 
Germany  into  Belgica.  Gracilis  frightened  Vetus  by  suggesting 
that  the  Emperor  would  be  annoyed  at  the  undertaking  of  such  a 
large  work  by  a  subject. 

§  28.  In  the  Lower  province  some  trouble  was  caused  by  the 
eastern  Frisians,  who  were  independent,  whereas  the  western 
Frisians  were  tributary.  Emboldened  by  the  long  peace,  they 
migrated  with  all  their  people  to  the  bank  of  the  Old  Rhine  and 
established  themselves  in  unoccupied  lands  reserved  for  pasturing 


54-68  A.D.  THE   FRISIANS.  301 

the  beasts  which  supplied  the  Roman  troo